Air date: March 11, 2012

Host: Barbara Lewis

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Interview: Mark Turrentine, MD,
professor of surgery, IU School of Medicine
director, Pediatric Cardiothoracic Surgery
Riley Hospital for Children at IU Health

Elaine Cox, MD, associate professor of clinical pediatrics, IU School of Medicine
pediatric infectious disease specialist, Riley at IU Health

The FDA recently approved the Berlin Heart, a mechanical pump for children with severe heart failure. The implanted device temporarily takes over the heart’s function, typically until the child receives a transplant.

A team from Riley at IU Health in Indianapolis, which has been using the device for a decade, played a key role in the approval process.

On this week’s show, Dr. David Crabb learns about the device from pioneering pediatric heart surgeon Mark Turrentine and one of his patients, Bailey Hunsberger, now a sophomore at Indiana University.

Crabb also speaks with Elaine Cox, MD, a specialist in pediatric infectious disease. She helped craft study protocols for the FDA’s approval process for the Berlin Heart.

Dr. Turrentine is professor of surgery at the IU School of Medicine. Dr. Cox and an associate professor of clinical pediatrics at IUSM. Both have a practice with Riley at IU Health.

Additional Resources:

• A recent article about Bailey Hunsberger appears in the IU Homepages news magazine.
• Make an appointment with Dr. Mark Turrentine or with Dr. Elaine Cox.
• Find out more about Dr. Turrentine's involvement with the Berlin Heart and its FDA approval in the IU Health newsroom.
• Get details about how the Berlin Heart works at the website.
• Also, Bailey's mother has been blogging updates about Bailey and the family's experience since 2005.