HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Personal Folders Download to citation manager Author home page(s): Daniel Loisance Permission Requests Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Loisance, D. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Loisance, D.

Mechanical Circulatory Support: a Clinical Reality

National Academy of Medicine, Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery Service, Henri Mondor Hospital, Créteil Cedex, France

For reprint information contact: Daniel Loisance, MD, Tel: 33 1 4981 2551, Fax: 33 1 4981 2552, Email: daniel.loisance{at}wanadoo.fr, Hôpital Henri Mondor, Service de Chirurgie Thoracique et Cardiovasculaire, 51 Avenue du Maréchal de Lattre de Tassigny, 94010, Créteil Cedex, France.

Mechanical circulatory support is becoming an alternative therapeutic option for patients in cardiogenic shock or advanced cardiac failure who cannot be improved by maximal medical therapy. More than 30 years of engineering development and clinical research have led to a level of efficacy and reliability of ventricular assist devices, which allows promotion of this approach for the most difficult patients. Uses include a gaining-time strategy as a bridge to cardiac transplantation or recovery of native cardiac function, as well as permanent support with the device. The large variety of devices permits every cardiac surgical unit, even those not used to cardiac transplantation, to propose this option to the patient. Recent experience with small silent implantable pumps suggests that the pioneering period of mechanical circulatory support is probably over, and the time has come for precise prospective trials to optimize both patient selection and the timing for utilization. In countries where cardiac transplantation has not developed, there is now an easily accessible technique for management of patients with cardiac failure.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				L. C. Santelices, Y. Wang, D. Severyn, M. J. Druzdzel, R. L. Kormos, and J. F. Antaki Development of a Hybrid Decision Support Model for Optimal Ventricular Assist Device Weaning Ann. Thorac. Surg., September 1, 2010; 90(3): 713 - 720. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]