Bon Secours — Advanced Heart Failure Center, St. Mary's

Bon Secours — Advanced Heart Failure Center, St. Mary's is central Virginia’s source for comprehensive treatment of advanced heart failure. Led by Dr. LaVone Smith, the region’s first cardiologist to be board certified in heart failure, we offer compassionate leading–edge care. This includes the latest medical and surgical treatments – and the program is recognized as one of the top LVAD programs in the nation.

Specialized Services

• Cardiac monitoring 
• Cardiopulmonary stress testing 
• Left ventricular assist devices (LVAD) 
• Heart transplant evaluation 
• Pre- and post-heart transplant care
• Inpatient and outpatient management of advanced heart failure patients 
• Support groups for patients and caregivers 
• Research studies in advanced heart failure therapies

Early referral leads to more favorable outcomes

Patients with Class III failure with increasing volume difficulties and hospitalizations, as well as all Class IV heart failure patients, should be considered for LVAD therapy. Evaluation and monitoring can be done on an inpatient or outpatient basis.

Consider referral if Ejection Fraction (EF) is ≤ 25%.

Other potential criteria can be:

• One heart failure admission in the past year
• Decreasing tolerance of beta blockers and/or ACEI/ARB
• Heart failure symptoms despite resynchronization therapy
• Increasing diuretic dose
• Inability to walk one block without shortness of breath
• Worsening renal function