New, less invasive procedure to solve blockages in mechanical heart pumps

It helps eliminate need for major operations and shortens recovery time for patients

- Zachary Lim

When 42-year-old logistics supervisor Rizal Mohamed Ismail's mechanical heart pump alerted him frequently about a potential blockage in the device, he was worried that he had to undergo another open-heart operation.

"I first got my implant on March 10, 2022, and my surgery took somewhere between eight and 12 hours. I was then hospitalised until April 8, 2022," he said.

Instead, his doctors offered him a novel, minimally invasive option to solve the problem that saw him discharged just four days after the treatment.

"The procedure was very fast, and I recovered really quickly. I have the doctors to thank for that," he said.

Mr Rizal is only the second patient in Singapore to receive this treatment.

The treatment was carried out in September 2024 at the National Heart Centre Singapore (NHCS), which treats cases of blockages in mechanical heart pumps known as left ventricular assist devices (LVADs).

The LVAD is attached to the left ventricle of the heart and pumps oxygenated blood into the aorta, which distributes it to the rest of the body through branches of smaller vessels.

Material known as bio-debris can build up in the device's dual-layered tubing, known as the outflow graft, creating blockages that compress the inner tube and restrict blood flow. This may ultimately cause the pump to malfunction.