ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, October 1, 1996 TAG: 9610010072
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: NORFOLK
SOURCE: SONJA BARISIC ASSOCIATED PRESS
Waiting for a heart transplant often means confinement in a hospital. But a computerized pump implant is allowing a 16-year-old heart patient to go home until a donor is found.
The Novacor pump has been undergoing improvements for about four years. The most recent version, the Novacor PC, has been implanted in 25 people nationwide since it was released in January.
Will Walton of Virginia Beach is the first among those 25 to be discharged from the hospital while he awaits a transplant, said Deborah Myers, spokeswoman for Sentara Norfolk General Hospital.
Most Novacor recipients typically remain in the hospital, some in intensive-care units, while they await new hearts, she said.
Surgeons at Sentara implanted the pump in Walton's abdomen Aug. 9. Late last week, Walton moved into an apartment on the hospital campus, where he and his mother will live for up to a month before going home to await a transplant.
The pump essentially does the work of the failing heart and is run by a computer chip.
LENGTH: Short : 32 linesby CNB