World's smallest heart pump saves man's life

HARTFORD, Conn. (WTNH) --  The world's smallest heart pump; doctors at Hartford Hospital used it to save a man's life, but they were forced to take extraordinary measures to do it.

A minor surgical procedure brought Howard Gaynor to Hartford Hospital, but two heart attacks while recovering led to a more invasive step.

"In my ICU room, I went into cardiac arrest," said Gaynor. "At that point, that was two heart attacks within 12 hours."

"In the throws of that second heart attack, his heart really began to struggle quite badly," Dr. Roman Margey said.

Dr. Margey is the interventional cardiologist who stepped in.

"In Howard's case, unusually the heart attack was predominately affecting the right side of the heart," said Dr. Margey.

The right side of the heart that pumps blood into the lungs.

The only solution: the smallest heart pump designed for the right side of the heart, but the new device was not yet approved for clinical trials in the U.S. 
 
"In Howard's case, it was shaped like this," said Dr. Margey. "We were left in a situation where by we could either watch what was going to be a progressive decline and a worsening of the situation or we can try to do something."

They worked quickly to get approval from the hospital ethics board, the manufacturer and the FDA.  

"This is actually the right sided pump device so the first time this device is used in the United States," Dr. Margey said.

Approved for compassionate use, doctors were able to save Gaynor's life.

"This little device is generating five liters of blood flow into his lungs," said Dr. Margey.
    
"I feel so good physically that everything that we are talking about couldn't have happened," Gaynor said. "I still can't comprehend how they could build something like that, something that small that can do that function."

Four weeks after Gaynor had the procedure, the FDA approved it for clinical trials. So far, he is still the only patient in the U.S. to go through it.