title: Left ventricular assist device implantation in high risk destination therapy patients: an alternative surgical approach.
abstract: Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD) for Destination Therapy (DT) is an established therapy for end stage heart failure patients who are not transplant candidates. Many DT patients requiring LVADs have had prior open heart surgery, the majority of whom had prior sternotomy. In addition, DT patients tend to be older and more likely to have more significant co-morbidities than their Bridge-To-Transplant (BTT) counterparts. As such, placement of an implantable LVAD in DT patients can be technically hazardous and potentially prone to more perioperative complications. The purpose of this report is to describe an alternative implantation approach for the implantation of the Heartmate II™ LVAD in high risk DT patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Lankenau Medical Center, Wynnewood, PA, USA. SamuelsL@mlhs.org
authors.forename: Louis E
authors.initials: LE
authors.lastname: Samuels
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Casanova-Ghosh
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rodriguez
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Droogan
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000601:surgery*; D006353:Heart-Assist Devices; D006801:Humans; D007431:Intraoperative Complications / Q000517:prevention & control; D008297:Male; D019919:Prosthesis Implantation / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012306:Risk