Clinical experience with 111 thoratec ventricular assist devices

Ventricular Assist Devices for Pediatric Heart Disease

“…The relatively older age of these patients (range 11-20 years) and larger size (body surface area range 1.4 -2.2 m 2 ) allowed the use of this device. As in the adult experience, the majority of children supported by the vented electric model were discharged home with resumption of normal activities (McBride et al, 1999;Korfer at al., 2000). A number of reports exist describing experience with the Thoratec VAD (Thoratec Corp., Pleasanton, CA) in children.…”

Cardiac Compression Devices: Alternative Technology and Innovative Concept

“…The pump moves blood from the LV to aortic arch where it flows normally through the patient's arterial system. Short-term use of these devices in patients awaiting transplantation can maintain hemodynamics, improve vital organ function and exercise tolerance, allow patients to be discharged from the hospital, and provides them with a reasonable quality of life and a relatively low incidence of major adverse events (8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15). Table 1 is showing a summary of some types of ventricular assist device.…”

“…The mortality is up to 70% of LVAD recipients (3,19). Failure of the LVAD was the second most frequent cause of death in the device group, which can occur in multiple parts of a device or in the controller (11). By the improvement of technology, mechanical pump failure was decreased (0.03% in the 1st generation to 0% in the 2nd and 3rd generation of LVAD) (20).…”

Clinical Decision Support System for Optimal Vad Weaning

“…When compared to patients managed by medical therapy alone, the use of VADs as a BTT has been shown to improve both clinical and quality of life outcomes and even lower expenses [20,[41][42][43][44][45]. This technology has made it possible for patients to be discharged from the hospital and await a donor heart from home.…”

“…However, several medical centers have reported instances in which BTT patients have recovered function of their heart while waiting for a transplant; many of these patients were able to be weaned from VAD support and remain device/transplant free [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25]. Recovery in BTT patients is a promising option; the patient is able to forego a transplant altogether, thereby avoiding the long-term complications associated with transplantation and opening up the availability of the organ for another patient on the waiting list.…”