First clinical experience with the DeBakey VAD continuous-axial-flow pump for bridge to transplantation
A shortage of donor organs and increased numbers of deaths of patients on the waiting list for cardiac transplantation make mechanical circulatory support for a bridge to transplantation a standard clinical procedure. Continuous-flow rotary blood pumps offer exciting new perspectives. Two male patie...
Saved in:
Published in | Circulation (New York, N.Y.) Vol. 101; no. 4; pp. 356 - 359 |
---|---|
Main Authors | , , , , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
Hagerstown, MD
Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
01.02.2000
American Heart Association, Inc |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
Cover
Loading…
Summary: | A shortage of donor organs and increased numbers of deaths of patients on the waiting list for cardiac transplantation make mechanical circulatory support for a bridge to transplantation a standard clinical procedure. Continuous-flow rotary blood pumps offer exciting new perspectives.
Two male patients (ages 44 and 65 years) suffering from end-stage left heart failure were implanted with a DeBakey VAD axial-flow pump for use as a bridge to transplant. In the initial postoperative period, the mean pump flow was 3.9+/-0.5 L/min, which equals a mean cardiac index (CI) of 2.3+/-0.2 L. min(-1). m(-2). In both patients, the early postoperative phase was characterized by a completely nonpulsatile flow profile. However, with the recovery of heart function 8 to 12 days after implantation, increasing pulse pressures became evident, and net flow rose to 4.5+/-0.6 L/min, causing an increase of mean CI up to 2.7+/-0.2 L. min(-1). m(-2). Patients were mobilized and put through regular physical training. Hemolysis stayed in the physiological range and increased only slightly from 2. 1+/-0.8 mg/dL before surgery to 3.3+/-1.8 mg/dL 6 weeks after implantation.
The first clinical implants of the DeBakey VAD axial-flow pump have demonstrated the device to be a promising measure of bridge-to-transplant mechanical support. |
---|---|
Bibliography: | ObjectType-Case Study-2 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-4 content type line 23 ObjectType-Report-1 ObjectType-Article-3 |
ISSN: | 0009-7322 1524-4539 |
DOI: | 10.1161/01.CIR.101.4.356 |