Neonatal mechanical bridging to total orthotopic heart transplantation

Background. Until recently, newborns with medically intractable cardiac failure caused by congenital malformations were mostly doomed to death because of the severity of the disease, which precludes a palliative operation, or because of fatal deterioration before availability of a suitable donor heart. Methods. The recently developed paracorporeal pneumatically driven Medos HIA ventricular assist device offers a therapeutic option for these small infants because it is manufactured in various sizes and is even suitable for cardiac assistance in neonates with a body surface area less than 0.3 m2. Results. We report our initial experience with this device, which we used for univentricular bridging to total orthotopic cardiac transplantation in 3 infants. The device was inserted to support the left ventricle in two instances and to support the right heart in one. Successful bridging to transplantation was achieved in 2 infants for periods of 2 and 7 weeks. Conclusions. Our experience demonstrates the feasibility of univentricular mechanical support followed by successful cardiac transplantation in infants and newborns.