title: [Ventricular assist device as a bridge to transplant in patients with cardiogenic shock. Preliminary experience in Chile with ABIOMED BVS 5000].
abstract: Hospitalization and death due to heart failure and cardiogenic shock is frequent and currently is increasing among the adult population. Although cardiac transplantation is the most effective treatment in patients with end-stage heart failure, its availability is limited. While waiting for transplantation, some patients become refractory to treatment and deteriorate progressively. Secondary multi-organ damage could highly compromise the transplant success and also could contraindicate it. Mechanical ventricular assist devices allow reestablishing normal cardiac output and they have been used as a bridge to recovery and transplantation. We report four patients that underwent mechanical ventricular support using the ABIOMED BVS 5000 system as a bridge for transplantation. Two patients were connected to biventricular assistance; a third patient was connected to a left ventricular support and the fourth to a right ventricular support. Three were successfully transplanted and one died of refractory non-cardiogenic shock. There were no complications related to the support system, such as infection, hemorrhage or stroke. In our experience, the ABIOMED BVS 5000 was an effective strategy as a bridge to heart transplant in patients in cardiogenic shock.
authors.affiliation: Departamento Enfermedades Cardiovasculares y Cirugía Cardiaca, Hospital Clínico, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile. pcastro@med.puc.cl
authors.forename: Pablo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Castro
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Baraona
authors.forename: Cristian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Baeza
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mc-Nab
authors.forename: Alejandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Berlin
authors.forename: Ricardo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zalaquett
authors.forename: Sergio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Morán
authors.forename: Pedro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Becker
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Irarrázabal
authors.forename: Bernardita
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Garayar
authors.forename: Mario
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Carvajal
authors.forename: Sergio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cisternas
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002677:Chile; D004867:Equipment Design; D017809:Fatal Outcome; D005260:Female; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000628:therapy*; D016027:Heart Transplantation; D006353:Heart-Assist Devices; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012770:Shock, Cardiogenic / Q000628:therapy*