The Jarvik 2000, described in the May 14 issue of Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association, may be the first true left ventricular (LV) assist device. It unloads the LV and improves its function, rather than replacing it. “This small, simple, safe pump can be implanted with little or no time on a heart-lung machine,” lead author O. H. “Bud” Frazier, MD, from the Texas Heart Institute in Houston, says in a news release. “It poses very little risk and can boost the patient’s native heart function.” Of 4 British patients receiving the device, 3 are still alive after an average of 3 months from implantation; 1 patient died from right heart failure 3 months after implantation. All patients were ineligible for heart transplants because of their age and poor renal function.