Abbott announced U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of a new alternative surgical technique for Abbott's HeartMate 3 heart pump that will allow more advanced heart failure patients to avoid open heart surgery. The new, less invasive approach is designed to provide surgeons a choice in surgical method for patients receiving the HeartMate 3 Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD). Approximately 615,000 people in the U.S. are living with heart failure and nearly 40% are considered to have reached an advanced stage where traditional therapies no longer work. Heart pumps are small, implantable mechanical devices that pump blood through the body in people whose heart is too weak to do so on its own. People living with a heart pump may be waiting for a heart transplant or may not be candidates for a transplant and will live with the device for the rest of their life. Historically, heart pumps have been implanted via open heart surgery. With approval for an alternative surgical technique, Abbott's HeartMate 3 heart pump can now be implanted via lateral thoracotomy – a surgical approach where an incision is made between a patient's ribs to access the heart. Physicians believe that for many patients this technique has advantages over open heart surgery because it can result in less bleeding and a shorter recovery time for patients.