WASHINGTON — Former Vice President Dick Cheney, battling a lifetime of cardiac disease, has not decided whether to seek a heart transplant but could use the device surgically inserted into his chest last week as permanent therapy for his condition, according to a source close to the Cheney family and to heart surgeons familiar with the treatment.
“He has not made any decision yet about a transplant,” the source said Thursday. “He is totally focused right now on recuperation and rehab with his (current device).”
The device implanted into the former vice president’s chest is known as an LVAD — or left ventricular assist device. It is often described as a temporary therapy representing a “bridge” to a transplant, fueling speculation that the 69-year-old Cheney may be on the path toward seeking a new heart.
But experts said the newest models of the device, essentially a pump, are considered “destination therapies” that can last for years.
“There are patients who have been having a wonderful quality of life for more than five years already,” said Dr. Richard Shemin, chief of cardiothoracic surgery at the University of California, Los Angeles’ Reagan Medical Center. “Because it’s a more modern device, smaller and more efficient, there is a lot of enthusiasm for it.”
Cheney, who suffered his first of five heart attacks at 37, announced Wednesday that he had undergone surgery last week to insert the device. He called the procedure a new phase of “increasing congestive heart failure” but said he believed he would soon resume an active life.
Cheney may not be a good candidate for a heart transplant, primarily because of his age. The scarcity of available hearts means that surgeons typically prefer to reserve them for younger patients with a longer expected lifespan.
One potential oddity is that most patients who have the pump device have neither a pulse nor a conventional blood pressure, and must carry medical documentation saying that the lack of a pulse does not mean they are dead.
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