Treatment Options Staff Individualized Plan of Care Real Stories, Real People Printable Brochure (281K PDF file) Schedule an Appointment If you would like more information or to schedule an appointment, please call 215-955-2050 or 1-800-JEFF-NOW. Arrangements can be made so that you can coordinate your appointments with all of your heart failure specialists on the same day at the Center. Location The Center is located in Philadelphia at 925 Chestnut Street, Mezzanine level. Hours Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m.

Jarvik 2000 ® Heart Assist System – Offering More Options for Patients with Heart Failure

For patients with heart failure that is no longer responding to medication or other treatments, ventricular assist devices (VADs) – a mechanical device that is used to take over the pumping function for one or both of the heart’s ventricles – may be required to support the heart in order to ensure that the amount of blood pumped out by the heart per minute is enough to meet the body’s needs. Some VADs are designed to support the right heart alone or both ventricles, but commonly the left ventricle is the primary point of support.  

The Jarvik 2000 ® Heart Assist System is the next generation of assist devices. About the size of a C battery, it is the smallest and simplest, totally implantable, left ventricular assist device available. It fits directly inside the heart’s left chamber, pumping blood from the heart at up to seven liters per minute.

According to Paul Mather, MD, Director of the Advanced Heart Failure and Cardiac Transplant Center at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, the Jarvik 2000 ® Heart Assist System is designed to complement the heart’s own function. Rather than take over for the biological heart, the system augments the weakened heart’s blood output to help restore a normal flow throughout the body.  Patients should be able to resume a somewhat normal life while wearing the device.

Part of an FDA-authorized clinical trial, the Jarvik 2000 ® Heart Assist System is currently only available in Pennsylvania at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.