Heart patients saved by cutting-edge technology celebrate life
Updated: 11/16/2010 4:14 pm | Published: 11/16/2010 4:06 pm
SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) - Heart patients who were saved by cutting edge technology celebrated life at St. Mark's Hospital Tuesday.
They met with doctors and nurses who took care of them when they were very sick.
One of them is Pamela Anderson, 56. She went in for colon surgery last year and had a heart attack. Surgeons used the world's smallest heart pump to keep her alive. St. Mark's is one of two hospitals in Utah to use the device called the Impella 5.0 heart pump. Anderson says, "If it hadn't been for the pump to help my body get stronger, I wouldn't be here."
Another 38 year old man was also there to thank hospital staff. In October he survived a "blow out" of the right atrial wall in his heart and acute onset heart failure thanks to an advanced cardiac support system called the AB5000. It's available exclusively at St. Mark's Hospital.
Both devices are made by Abiomed.
Copyright 2010 Newport Television LLC All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
