First full-support mini cardiac pump FDA approved as bridge to cardiac transplantation.

The first full-support, miniaturized ventricular assist device designed to be placed in the pericardial space, was approved by the FDA in late November. HeartWare International, Inc., Framingham, MA, an innovator of less invasive, miniaturized circulatory support technologies to treat advanced heart failure, said that its Ventricular Assist System was approved as a bridge to cardiac transplantation in patients who are at risk of death from refractory end-stage left ventricular heart failure.