title: Mechanical circulatory support for heart failure: past, present and a look at the future.
abstract: Heart transplantation remains the gold standard for long-term cardiac replacement, but a shortage of donor organs will always limit this option. For both transplant-eligible and noneligible patients, advances in mechanical circulatory support have revolutionized the options for the management of end-stage heart failure, and this technology continues to bring us closer to a true alternative to heart transplantation. This review provides a perspective on the past, present and future of mechanical circulatory support and addresses the changes in technology, patient selection and management strategies needed to have this therapy fully embraced by the heart failure community, and perhaps replace heart transplantation either as the therapy of choice or as a strategy by which to delay transplantation in younger patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Miller Family Heart and Vascular Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH 44195, USA. moazamn@ccf.org
authors.forename: Nader
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Moazami
authors.forename: Katherine J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Hoercher
authors.forename: Kiyotaka
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Fukamachi
authors.forename: Mariko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kobayashi
authors.forename: Nicholas G
authors.initials: NG
authors.lastname: Smedira
authors.forename: Alex
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Massiello
authors.forename: David J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Horvath
mesh_terms: D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D005544:Forecasting; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D006353:Heart-Assist Devices / Q000639:trends*; D006801:Humans; D013813:Therapy, Computer-Assisted / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000639:trends*