USC Cardiothoracic Surgeons are on the leading edge of incorporating the latest medical devices into their practice. Many of these innovative devices are designed to keep the heart functioning in a patient who has heart failure.

Heart failure can occur for many reasons -- congenital heart disease, cardiomyopathy, virus, drugs or previous heart attacks. Some of these devices are used as a “bridge” to transplant, while others are used to help the patient’s heart become stronger.