BEATING HEART IMPLANTATION OF A WEARABLE NOVACOR LEFT-VENTRICULAR ASSIST DEVICE

Implantable left-ventricular assist devices (LVAD) are successfully us ed as a bridge to transplant if the patient's condition is worsening a nd no donor organ is available. They allow recovery of compromised org an function. However, postoperative bleeding, thrombemboelism, and rig ht-heart failure may jeopardize the important improvement of organ fun ction and may even lead to death. We introduce our strategy for implan tation of the Novacor LVAD system, which aims at minimal bleeding and maintained right-heart function. The Novacor LVAD was implanted with t he heart beating during extracorporeal circulation in 8 patients, 3 of whom had previous cardiac surgery. Postoperatively, no patient develo ped right heart failure or had to undergo redo thoracotomy.