New Journal Dedicated to Ventricular Assist Devices is Launched

Released: 2-Feb-2015 4:00 AM EST

“Mechanical assisted circulation is the most rapidly developing area of cardiology, but there is no journal dedicated to papers in this area,” Dr. Guglin said. “The growing number of patients with heart failure, the limited pool of donors for cardiac transplantation, and several technological breakthroughs have all made the option of implanting a ventricular assist device as destination therapy more important, and therefore it’s essential to give cardiologists a dedicated forum to share their research and opinions on the topic.” A ventricular assisted device, or VAD, is an implantable device that helps the heart do its job when it is too weak or diseased to perform effectively on its own. Originally designed as a means to maintain circulation until a donor heart could be found, VADs are now gaining popularity as a destination therapy for patients with heart failure. The VAD Journal will be an open access publication, meaning that its content is available online without significant financial, legal or technical barriers. “We intend for the VAD Journal to be a forum where all subspecialties in the field of mechanical assisted circulation and advanced heart failure can share ideas and opinions,” Dr. Guglin said. “It was created with the purpose of enabling rapid dissemination of unbiased reviews of new findings and ideas for all interested parties.” The VAD Journal can be accessed athttp://uknowledge.uky.edu/vad/