By Blythe Bernhard
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
03/26/2009

When someone''s heart is about to quit, they''re usually told to wait for a transplant or wait to die. Lately, doctors have found other options.

"Transplant will never solve the public health dilemma which is posed by all these people with end-stage heart disease," said Dr. Edwin McGee, surgical director of heart transplantation at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago.

Because there aren''t enough donor hearts to meet the demand, "cardiologists are recognizing that these people need some type of help or they''re going to die," McGee said.

More and more, surgeons turn to cardiac implants to help weak hearts pump blood to the body. The newest versions of ventricular assist devices are smaller, quieter and more portable. Where once the devices were the size of a coffee maker, the latest versions have shrunk to the size of a D battery.

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