Wikipedia says that this is literally true (check the last sentence) - it's not some kind of "Dick Cheney is a heartless bastard" joke. So please hold off on the downvotes (parent was at 0 when I posted).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ventricular_assist_device -- looks like centrifugal pumps have existed for at least long enough for someone to write a Wikipedia article about them.