William S. Pierce

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Dr. William S. Pierce (born 1937-01-12), professor emeritus of surgery at Pennsylvania State University, was a key figure in the development of the Heart-lung machine and various medical devices related to organ transplant and cardiovascular health. Pierce founded the Penn State organ donation program and was instrumental in conceiving and developing the Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD) and later the Left Ventricular Assist System (LVAS). A Ventricular assist device is used in a procedure whereby the work of one or both ventricles of the heart is taken over by a Heart-lung machine so that the heart can be stilled. This is done either as a destination therapy or for Open-Heart Surgery, including as a bridge-to-transplant.

[edit] Publications

Some representative publications:

Rosenberg G, Snyder A, Weiss W, Mehta S, Felder G, Kusagawa H and Pierce WS: A reduced sized implantable artificial heart for women and small men. Am. Soc. Artif. Intern. Organs Abstracts 42(2): 7, 1996.

Snyder AJ, Pierce WS, Rosenberg G, Weiss WJ and Runt J: Progress in the development of an innovative ventricular assist system. Am. Soc. Artif. Intern. Organs Abstracts 42(2): 13 1, March-April, 1996.

Weiss W, Rosenberg G, Snyder A, Rawhouser M, Pierce WS, Kusagawa H, Mehta S, Marlotte J, Nazarian R, Ford S, Hicks D: Recent improvements in the completely implanted total artificial heart. Am. Soc. Artif. Intern. Organs Abstracts 42(2): 9, 1996.

Pierce WS: Chapter 54: The Artificial Heart. In, Textbook of Surgery: The Biological Basis of Modern Surgical Practice. 15th Edition. Ed., D.C. Sabiston, Jr. W.B.Saunders Co., Armonk, New York. 1997. Pages 2228-2232.

Richenbacher WE and Pierce WS: Chapter 19: Assisted Circulation and the Mechanical Heart. In, Heart Disease. Fifth Edition. Ed., E. Braunwald, M.D. W.B. Saunders Co., Orlando, Florida. 1996. Pages 534-547.