Abstract
Background
Postcardiotomy heart failure is still the main cause of death in patients undergoing palliative surgery for end-stage dilative cardiomyopathy. New micro-axial flow ventricular assisting devices (LVAD) have been suggested in such cases.
Objective
Evaluate the effect of the new LVAD on short-term outcome of a patient admitted for endstage heart failure.
Study Design
Case report.
Data Sources
One patient admitted for severe mitral regurgitation secondary to end-stage dilative cardiomyopathy and chronic atrial fibrillation (AF).
Intervention
Preoperative intraaortic balloon pump (IABP) insertion, mitral plasty with radiofrequency ablation of AF, microaxial flow LVAD support.
Results
The patient was unweanable from cardiopulmonary bypass until microaxial flow LVAD unloaded the left ventricle and restored adequate cardiac function. The patient was discharged home and is still well at 5 months folllow-up
Conclusions
The miniinvasive insertion and withdrawal, low anticoagulation protocols, and the possibility of coupling with IABP make the microaxial flow LVAD promising for patients with end-stage heart failure undergoing surgery.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.