High risk heart patients who have been previously denied surgery now have a new option at Bakersfield Heart Hospital.

The medical center hosted a mobile learning lab Monday to show off the newly FDA approved “World’s Smallest Heart Pump”. The pump, which has been used in clinical trials at the hospital for the past eight years, acts like an IV and is inserted into the leg. This gives doctors the option to treat patients whose heart disease is so advanced that it’s too dangerous to operate on using traditional methods.

Kelli Forsch