Use of a Prosthetic Ventricle as a Bridge to Cardiac Transplantation for Postinfarction Cardiogenic Shock

Abstract

The use of an artificial heart as a bridge to cardiac transplantation was first reported in 1969, in a patient who could not be weaned from cardiopulmonary bypass.¹ Since then, the intraaortic balloon pump has been used successfully for partial cardiac assistance before transplantation,² but little published information is available about the temporary use of univentricular or biventricular prosthetic hearts to provide time to procure a donor heart.^{3 4 5 6} We report the successful use of a prosthetic left ventricle as a bridge to transplantation in a 47-year-old man in cardiogenic shock after massive acute myocardial infarction. At one year the patient . . .