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).
Yeah, I wasn't going after the guy (this time), though I admit I originally learned that on the Daily Show and just did a quick confirmation-check before I posted.
Cheney has the Heartmate II (the same device the researchers used two of in this project). It is an axial flow as opposed to centrifugal pump. The first back non-pulsating heart assist device I could find is the hemopump: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemopump