A new miniature pump has been devised which has the potential to become widely used as a permanent treatment for many older people with severe heart failure.
 
The question that is raised is about the affordability.
 
The new device increased the survival rate by four times the number, in a study involving 200 patients, who survived at least two years as compared to an older pump having several drawbacks.
 
The device called HeartMate II costs $80,000 in addition to $45,000 for the surgeryand hospital stay needed to implant it.
 
Cleveland Clinic heart chief Dr. Steven Nissen, who had no role in the research said, "It will allow older people who are not heart transplant patients to stay alive but at a higher cost. It's all about who's going to pay."
 
A different viewpoint is put forward by Dr. Robert Harrington, heart research chief at Duke University, which helped in testing the device. He says that an extraordinary amount is spent on advanced heart failure patients even now and what amount can be identified as too much?
 
This device can be implanted next to the heart and assist the heart in pumping the blood. The current ones wear out too quickly to be long-term solutions and the rate of survival is too low.