title: Five-week use of a monopivot centrifugal blood pump as a right ventricular assist device in severe dilated cardiomyopathy.
abstract: Right heart failure is a critical complication in patients requiring mechanical ventricular support. However, it is often difficult to provide adequate right ventricular support in the acute phase. A 41-year-old woman diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy with severe right heart failure underwent implantation of a paracorporeal pulsatile left ventricular assist device (LVAD, Nipro Corporation, Tokyo, Japan) and a MERA monopivot centrifugal pump (Senko Medical Instrument Manufacturing Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan) as a right ventricular assist device (RVAD). The patient developed ischemic enteritis 3 weeks after surgery, necessitating fasting and reversal of anticoagulation therapy. A target international normalized ratio of 1.5 was selected, and aspirin administration was discontinued. Following recovery without thromboembolic events, the patient failed the RVAD discontinuation test. Five weeks after surgery, the monopivot centrifugal pump was exchanged for a pulsatile pump. No thrombus was evident on the centrifugal pump. The patient was undergoing cardiac rehabilitation at the time of this writing and awaiting heart transplantation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Kitasato University School of Medicine, 1-15-1 Kitasato, Minami Ku, Sagamihara, 252-0374, Kanagawa, Japan, takaino0308@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Takamichi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Inoue
authors.forename: Tadashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kitamura
authors.forename: Shinzo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Torii
authors.forename: Naoji
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hanayama
authors.forename: Norihiko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Oka
authors.forename: Keiichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Itatani
authors.forename: Takahiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tomoyasu
authors.forename: Yusuke
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Irisawa
authors.forename: Miyuki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shibata
authors.forename: Hidenori
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hayashi
authors.forename: Minoru
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ono
authors.forename: Kagami
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Miyaji
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002311:Cardiomyopathy, Dilated / Q000150:complications / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000601:surgery*; D006353:Heart-Assist Devices; D006801:Humans; D019919:Prosthesis Implantation / Q000295:instrumentation*