The US Food and Drug Administration approved the usage of a heart pump this week which was mainly designed and tested at the Texas Heart Institute.

The regulatory agency said that the HeartMate II device could now be used in all patients with advanced heart failure along with those who are awaiting a heart transplant.

This device is a continous-flow pump which aids the heart’s left ventricle. Dr. Roberta Bogaev, medical director of Heart Failure and Transplant at the heart institute said, “This is a big day that we've long awaited.”

The current device is comparatively smaller than its previous model and significantly different in the way that a continous flow of blood is produced by this one, rather than the pulsatile pump which imitated blood flowing from a beating heart.

The pump is implanted just above the heart of the patient and an electric cord passes through the patient’s skin to an external battery and controller device.

Bogaev said that the continuous flow innovation facilitated in making this pump much smaller which further allows the users to have a more active lifestyle.