Ventricular Assist Device Application With the Intermediate Use of a Membrane Oxygenator as a Bridge to Pediatric Heart Transplantation

Received 24 December 2008; received in revised form 16 March 2009; accepted 7 April 2009.

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation and ventricular assist devices are currently used for the treatment of severe heart failure as a bridge to transplantation. The use of ventricular assist devices is limited by respiratory failure. We report a patient with severe heart failure and respiratory failure who was successfully bridged to transplantation, initially with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation and afterwards with an EXCOR biventricular assist device (Berlin Heart AG, Berlin, Germany) and a membrane oxygenator (Jostra Quadrox D, Maquet Cardiopulmonary, AG Hirrlingen, Germany) intercalated in the outflow cannula of the left pump.

a Department of Pediatric Cardiology, Hospital Universitario La Paz, Madrid, Spain

b Department of Pediatric Cardiac Surgery, Hospital Universitario La Paz, Madrid, Spain

c Department of Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Hospital Universitario La Paz, Madrid, Spain

d Department of Pediatric Anesthesia, Hospital Universitario La Paz, Madrid, Spain

e Department of Cardiac Surgery, Deutsches Herzzentrum, Berlin, Germany

Reprint requests: Luis Garcia-Guereta, MD, PhD, Hospital Universitario La Paz, Pediatric Cardiology, Castellana 261, 28046 Madrid, Spain. Telephone: 003-491-320-9920. Fax: 003-491-727-7040

PII: S1053-2498(09)00237-X

doi:10.1016/j.healun.2009.04.018

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