By Meena Kar
July 15, (THAINDIAN NEWS) Former Vice President Dick Cheney has been fitted with a left ventricular assist device (LVAD) that will reportedly give him a better quality of life. The powerful former Vice President has suffered from a string of heart problems that saw him landing in the hospital very often. According to Dick Cheney he decided to plant the device in himself after he realized that he had entered a new phase of the heart problems and that he had congestive heart failure.

More than 5 million Americans suffer from congestive heart failure and it causes the heart to weaken with time. According to Dr.Nieca Goldberg the device will improve the quality of life for the 69 year old Dick Cheney until he finds a suitable donor. She said that the advantage of the device was that it makes the patients quite mobile as it is very small. The device is often referred to as ‘bridge to transplant’ as it is known to extend the life expectancy of the patient and buys him/her time till a donor is found. According to research, the life expectancy of the patients increases from 3.1 months to up to 10 months with the fitting of the LVAD.

The LVAD is fitted in the upper part of the abdomen and it is surgically transplanted into the body with only the battery and control panel fitted outside the body. 69 year old Dick Cheney underwent the surgery last week and will soon be ready to be discharged from the hospital according to the reports. He has suffered 5 heart attacks since he was 37 and the doctors have revealed that his cardiac muscles have suffered considerable damage.