title: Prolonged biventricular assist device support as a bridge to heart transplantation.
abstract: We report a case in which long-term biventricular assist device (BiVAD) support enabled successful heart transplantation. The patient was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy at age 11. She underwent implantation of a Toyobo LVAD, tricuspid valvuloplasty and annuloplasty at age 15. Right heart bypass (RHB) was established using a centrifugal pump. Right ventricular function showed no improvement during a ten-day period, and RHB was switched to a Toyobo RVAD on postoperative day (POD) 11. Because of poor oxygenation, veno-venous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (V-V ECMO) was instituted. She was weaned from V-V ECMO on POD 14. She was brought to the United States on POD 189 under BiVAD support, and underwent heart transplantation on POD 199. She was discharged 4 months later. Two years after heart transplantation, she remained in New York Heart Association class one without rejection.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8655, Japan.
authors.forename: Chitaru
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kurihara
authors.forename: Minoru
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ono
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nishimura
authors.forename: Kan
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nawata
authors.forename: Osamu
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Kinoshita
authors.forename: Motoyuki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hisagi
authors.forename: Noboru
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Motomura
authors.forename: Shunei
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kyo
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002311:Cardiomyopathy, Dilated / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D016027:Heart Transplantation; D006353:Heart-Assist Devices; D006801:Humans; D013997:Time Factors