PAPERS

Temporary assist device for postcardiotomy cardiac failure

AA Pitsis, P Dardas, N Mezilis, N Nikoloudakis, G Filippatos and D Burkhoff
The Annals of Thoracic Surgery 2004;77:1431-1433

Postcardiotomy left ventricular failure (LVF) complicating a cardiac surgical procedure is usually managed with intraaortic balloon pump (IABP) counterpulsation. We report two cases of postcardiotomy LVF unresponsive to inotropic support and IABP counterpulsation that were managed successfully with the use of the TandemHeart percutaneous ventricular assist device (pVAD) (CardiacAssist, Pittsburgh, PA). The TandemHeart pVAD appears to be safe and effective as a bridge to recovery in the treatment of postcardiotomy cardiac failure.

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