title: Beating heart implantation of a wearable NOVACOR left-ventricular assist device.
abstract: Implantable left-ventricular assist devices (LVAD) are successfully used as a bridge to transplant if the patient's condition is worsening and no donor organ is available. They allow recovery of compromised organ function. However, postoperative bleeding, thrombemboelism, and right-heart failure may jeopardize the important improvement of organ function and may even lead to death. We introduce our strategy for implantation of the Novacor LVAD system, which aims at minimal bleeding and maintained right-heart function. The Novacor LVAD was implanted with the heart beating during extracorporeal circulation in 8 patients, 3 of whom had previous cardiac surgery. Postoperatively, no patient developed right heart failure or had to undergo redo thoracotomy.
authors.affiliation: Department for Thoracic, and Cardiovascular Surgery, Westfälische Wilhelms Universität, Münster, Germany.
authors.forename: H H
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Scheld
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hammel
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Schmid
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Weyand
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Möllhoff
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kerber
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D006348:Cardiac Surgical Procedures / Q000379:methods*; D002315:Cardiopulmonary Bypass; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000209:etiology; D016027:Heart Transplantation; D006353:Heart-Assist Devices / Q000009:adverse effects; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019106:Postoperative Hemorrhage / Q000209:etiology; D012086:Reoperation; D012307:Risk Factors; D013923:Thromboembolism / Q000209:etiology; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D018497:Ventricular Dysfunction, Right / Q000209:etiology; D014850:Waiting Lists