[Selection of candidates for a ventricular assist device as a bridge to heart transplantation].
This study was undertaken to see how many people could receive the ventricular assist device (VAD) as a bridge to heart transplantation and to get selection criteria of the recipient. From January 1984 to December 1987, 9916 patients were admitted to our institute and 399 cases of them were dead. All dead cases were examined in terms of age, heart disease, other organ function, infection, and so on. There were 42 possible candidates for VAD, 31 men and 11 women. The average age was 50 years with a range from 22 to 63 years. Ten cases (23.8%) of them had the indication for VAD bridge to transplantation. The criteria for transplantable patients included the following three categories: I) Cardiogenic shock: Irreversible left or double ventricular failure with or without life-threatening dysrhythmia during IABP therapy--4 cases. II) End-stage valvular heart disease; Operation under VAD stand-by--2 cases. III) Postoperative refractory ventricular pump failure: Failure to wean from assist circulation after IABP trial or sustained ventricular failure under IABP support--4 cases. It was indicated that continuous precise evaluation of the deteriorating hemodynamics and the intensive care for major organ functions (renal, pulmonary, neurologic, hepatic, coagulation, etc.) were important to select the candidate for VAD bridge to heart transplantation.
Kitamura
M
M
Eishi
K
K
Nishida
H
H
Imamura
E
E
Endo
M
M
Hashimoto
A
A
Koyanagi
H
H
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D016027:Heart Transplantation; D006353:Heart-Assist Devices; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged