About the Heart & Vascular Center

Five-year-old Joseph was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy last year after multiple visits to the hospital for a viral infection and fainting spells.  Cardiologists at MUSC in Charleston implanted a pacemaker to combat his arrhythmia. 

For a year, Joseph was doing well, but on Saturday, March 24th, he went into cardiac arrest and his heart was shocked 14 times.  He stopped breathing and turned blue.  His father had to give him CPR to keep him alive long enough for paramedics to fly him to the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. 

In the intensive care unit at MUSC, he was kept alive by ECMO, which is a heart/lung bypass.  ECMO requires him to be fully sedated and is only a very short term solution.
 Hearts are scarce, but pediatric hearts are even scarcer, and can take many weeks or months to find a viable match.  Joseph wouldn't survive that long.

The Berlin Heart, widely used in Europe but has not been FDA approved in the U.S., could keep Joseph alive long enough to get a new heart.  The Berlin Heart, the size of a small orange, is a ventricular assist device (VAD) and helps weak hearts pump blood.  Produced in Germany, the computerized pump system is available in various sizes suitable for use in infants and small children. Most of the device extends outside
the body and connects to the heart via tubes implanted in the patient's
chest.

Cardiologists and cardiac surgeons at MUSC applied to the FDA for a compassionate waiver, which they were granted after much red tape.  A team from Berlin Heart, Inc. flew in Monday, April 2 to assist with education and training.  Doctors performed the surgery on Wednesday, April 4th, implanting the device in Joseph.

On April 12th, Joseph received a new heart just in time to celebrate his sixth birthday on April 18th with his parents, friends and sister Abby.
 Read related article in USA Today