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Conversion from long-term AB-5000 to EVAHEART using a combined left thoracotomy and sternotomy approach

  • Case Report
  • Artificial Heart (Clinical)
  • Published:
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Abstract

Because of the extreme donor shortage in Japan, waiting times for heart transplantation exceed 2 years. Since 1980s in Japan, device availability has also been an issue, with only a few paracorporeal ventricular assist devices (VADs) available as a bridge to transplantation or recovery. However, two implantable VADs became commercially available in 2011. Given these constraints in our healthcare system, we report a relatively rare case of bridge-to-bridge use of an implanted EVAHEART after having used a paracorporeal AB-5000 support for an extended period of time. We successfully employed a combined left thoracotomy and median sternotomy approach as a conversion technique.

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Conflict of interest

Kenji Yamazaki serves as a consultant to Sun Medical Corporation. Other authors declare no conflict.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Cardiovascular Surgery, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, 1-1Seiryo-cho, Aoba-ku, Sendai, 980-8574, Japan

    Masatoshi Akiyama, Naotaka Motoyoshi, Shunsuke Kawamoto & Yoshikatsu Saiki

  2. Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Tokyo Women’s Medical University, 8-1 Kawada-cho, Shinjyuku-ku, Tokyo, 162-8666, Japan

    Satoshi Saito & Kenji Yamazaki

Authors
  1. Masatoshi Akiyama
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  2. Naotaka Motoyoshi
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  3. Shunsuke Kawamoto
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  4. Satoshi Saito
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  5. Kenji Yamazaki
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  6. Yoshikatsu Saiki
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Masatoshi Akiyama or Yoshikatsu Saiki.

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Akiyama, M., Motoyoshi, N., Kawamoto, S. et al. Conversion from long-term AB-5000 to EVAHEART using a combined left thoracotomy and sternotomy approach. J Artif Organs 17, 193–196 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10047-014-0756-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10047-014-0756-2

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