Congestive heart failure affects more than five million Americans. Fortunately, researchers are making important progress in understanding and treating heart failure and the diseases that cause it. With proper medical and surgical care—treatment with medications or even heart transplantation—people with heart failure can enjoy active, productive lives.

At Rush, patients with heart failure are treated with great skill, sensitivity and innovation. Rush physicians have been leaders in the field for many years. Rush continues to test new devices, new procedures and medications, both old and new, in promising new combinations—all in an effort to improve the lives of people with heart failure.

With so much experience and talent on their side, patients referred to Rush for heart transplant often get all the help they need from just the right mix of medications. When a transplant is necessary, the Rush transplant team is one of the area’s most experienced. In fact, the first successful heart transplant in Chicago was performed at Rush.

Working together, our specialists create treatment plans from a wide range of medical and surgical options—from heart-strengthening medications to complex heart surgeries. Treatment may include counseling and other supportive services to help patients and families cope with the emotional effects of heart failure.

• Surgical options: Some heart failure patients benefit from surgery to correct an underlying heart problem. This may include heart valve replacement or repair, coronary artery bypass or new techniques to alter the size and shape of the heart to make it pump more efficiently.
• Medical management of heart failure: Many people with heart failure benefit from medications that decrease the heart’s workload, help it pump more effectively and allow the body to adapt to living with a weaker heart.
• Mechanical pumps: Some patients receive mechanical pumps—called left ventricular assist devices (LVADs)—that help the heart maintain blood circulation while a patient awaits heart transplantation. The Rush team is skilled in the surgical implantation of these devices, as well as the long-term care of LVAD patients awaiting transplant. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has designated Rush as the only Chicago center, and one of only 20 in the country, that qualifies for Medicare reimbursement for heart assist devices implanted as a permanent therapy. 
• Biventricular pacing: Rush has extensive experience in the implantation of biventricular pacemakers. The biventricular pacemarker emits electronic signals that resynchronize the pumping action of the heart. This revolutionary instrument restores the normal electrical activity of the heart in people whose hearts have become misshapen and enlarged by the effects of heart failure.

It takes more than gifted cardiologists and great heart surgeons to make all of this possible. That’s why patients of the Heart Failure and Cardiac Transplant Program at Rush receive care from a team of experts. Immunologists. Dietitians. Social workers. Psychologists. And nurses so good, they’ve achieved Magnet status, the highest honor a hospital can achieve for nursing services.