Vanderbilt Heart and Vascular Institute is participating in a global clinical trial to test the safety and efficacy of the world’s smallest pacemaker.

Vanderbilt employee Drew Casey, 27, was at home when he began to experience shortness of breath. Thinking it might be a panic attack, his wife, Katie, called 911, and an ambulance took Casey to the Emergency Department, where he progressed very suddenly to circulatory failure and shock.

Thanks to advances in technology, heart patients with ventricular assist devices (VADs) are able to travel with greater frequency.

Sometimes smaller is better. This is especially true of left ventricular assist devices, the mechanically operated heart pumps that are implanted in heart failure patients to bridge them to transplantation.

Vanderbilt is the first hospital in Tennessee to use a new subcutaneous implantable defibrillator (S-ICD) to treat patients at risk for sudden cardiac arrest.

With Valentine’s Day just one day away, Vanderbilt Heart and Vascular Institute cardiologist Julie Damp, M.D., says being involved in a healthy, loving relationship is good for the heart.