Heartmate vented-electric left ventricular assist system: technique for intrathoracic or intraperitoneal implantation via a left thoracotomy

Gregoric, Igor; Wadia, Yasmin; Radovancevic, Branislav; Messner, Gregory; Khan, Tehreen; Frazier, O.H

doi:10.1016/j.healun.2003.06.004

« Previous Next »The Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation
Volume 23, Issue 6 , Pages 759-762, June 2004

Heartmate vented-electric left ventricular assist system: technique for intrathoracic or intraperitoneal implantation via a left thoracotomy

Igor Gregoric, MD
- Department of Heart Transplantation, Texas Heart Institute, Houston, Texas, USA
- Reprint requests: Igor Gregoric, MD, Department of Heart Transplantation, Texas Heart Institute, P.O. Box 20345, Houston, TX, USA 77225-0345. Telephone: 713-791-3849. Fax: 713-794-6798.
Yasmin Wadia, MD
- Department of Heart Transplantation, Texas Heart Institute, Houston, Texas, USA
Branislav Radovancevic, MD
- Department of Heart Transplantation, Texas Heart Institute, Houston, Texas, USA
Gregory Messner, DO
- Department of Heart Transplantation, Texas Heart Institute, Houston, Texas, USA
Tehreen Khan, MD
- Department of Heart Transplantation, Texas Heart Institute, Houston, Texas, USA
O.H Frazier, MD
- Department of Heart Transplantation, Texas Heart Institute, Houston, Texas, USA

Received 13 January 2002; received in revised form 1 March 2003; accepted 4 June 2003.

Abstract

The HeartMate vented-electric left ventricular assist system (Thoratec Corp., Woburn, MA) has become widely accepted as a temporary bridge to transplantation. We describe a left thoracotomy technique in 3 patients for implanting this pump intrathoracically or intraperitoneally. In all 3 cases, long-term pump function was satisfactory. For HeartMate implantation, the left thoracotomy approach may be particularly useful when previous median sternotomies, coupled with the severe debilitation posed by chronic heart failure and hepatic dysfunction with resultant coagulopathy, would greatly increase the mortality and morbidity of a redo median sternotomy.