Abdominal Fascial Enlargement to Relieve Obstruction of the Duodenum Caused by Novacor Left Ventricular Assist System
Received 13 November 2006; received in revised form 9 April 2007; accepted 8 May 2007.
One of the complications associated with use of implantable left ventricular assist systems for long-term support is compression or obstruction of abdominal viscera by the implanted device. This report concerns a patient with obstruction of the duodenum caused by an intra-abdominally placed Novacor left ventricular assist system. The compression of the duodenum was relieved by patch enlargement of the rectus sheath, which enabled the patient to return to a solid-food diet.
Department of Surgery, Division of Cardiovascular Surgery, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka, Japan.
Reprints requests: Goro Matsumiya, MD, Division of Cardiovascular Surgery, Department of Surgery, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine (E1), 2-2 Yamada-oka Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan. Telephone: +81-6-6879-3154. Fax: +81-6-6879-3159.
ABSTRACT