Sandip Zalawadiya Archives
Patient’s care journey included LVAD, bariatric surgery, transplant
Sep. 15, 2022—When Veronica Llamas-Barajas received a heart transplant at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in April, it was the culmination of a seven-year journey.
Bariatric surgery gave LVAD patient second chance at life
Jan. 13, 2022—Veronica Llamas-Barajas is the first LVAD patient at Vanderbilt to undergo bariatric surgery.
VHVI reaches milestone in cardiac monitor implants
Sep. 15, 2021—Vanderbilt has reached a new milestone in implanting CardioMEMS remote cardiac monitoring devices.
Novel LVAD allows patient to see family, celebrate milestones
Sep. 2, 2021—Brandon Cochran, a 39-year-old real estate agent in Louisville, Kentucky, was at home with his family in October 2020 when he went into cardiac arrest. His implanted defibrillator shocked him back to life, and he was hospitalized for seven months.
Device allows VHVI doctors to monitor heart patients remotely
Jul. 30, 2020—In 2018, Ronnie Kreis began to develop severe heart failure. After being hospitalized multiple times that year near his home in Oliver Springs in East Tennessee, he was told that nothing else could be done.
Ventricular assist device program hits major milestone
May. 6, 2020—VHVI’s cardiac surgery and heart failure teams recently celebrated a milestone — implanting the 500th adult patient with a ventricular assist device.
First artificial heart patient gets permanent replacement
Mar. 28, 2019—Tim Lowell of Hernando, Mississippi, received the first total artificial heart in the state of Tennessee when the cardiac surgery team at Vanderbilt Health placed the device in his chest on Sept. 26, 2018. The mechanical heart kept him alive for nearly three months until a matching human donor heart became available and he was transplanted on Dec. 16, 2018, at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
