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Impact of Long-Term Support with Berlin Heart EXCOR® in Pediatric Patients with Severe Heart Failure

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Abstract

Berlin Heart EXCOR® (BHE) ventricular assist device (VAD) (Berlin Heart, Berlin Heart AG, Berlin, Germany) implantation is prevalent in patients with severe heart failure. However, clinical outcomes of pediatric patients on long-term BHE support remain mainly unknown. This study aimed to report our clinical experience with long-term support of pediatric patients with severe heart failure supported by BHE VAD. Clinical outcomes of 11 patients (median age 8.4 months; two male), who underwent LVAD implantation of the Berlin Heart EXCO® (BHE) VAD (Berlin Heart, Berlin Heart AG, Berlin, Germany) between 2013 and 2017 at our institution were reviewed. The median support period was 312 (range 45–661) days and five patients were supported for more than 1 year. The longest support duration was 661 days. No mortality occurred, and six patients were successfully bridged to heart transplantation, while three patients were successfully weaned off the device. Two patients are currently on BHE support while they await heart transplantation. Four patients had cerebral bleeding or infarction, but only one case of persistent neurological deficit occurred. No fatal device-related infection occurred during LVAD support. BHE VAD can provide long-term support for pediatric patients with severe heart failure with acceptable mortality and morbidity rates with long-term support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Suita, Japan

    Tomomitsu Kanaya, Takayoshi Ueno, Masaki Taira, Takashi Kido, Naoki Okuda, Kanta Araki, Takuji Watanabe, Koichi Toda, Toru Kuratani & Yoshiki Sawa

  2. Osaka University, 2-2 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan

    Yoshiki Sawa

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  1. Tomomitsu Kanaya
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  2. Takayoshi Ueno
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  3. Masaki Taira
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  4. Takashi Kido
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  5. Naoki Okuda
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  6. Kanta Araki
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  7. Takuji Watanabe
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  8. Koichi Toda
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  9. Toru Kuratani
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  10. Yoshiki Sawa
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Correspondence to Yoshiki Sawa.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Kanaya, T., Ueno, T., Taira, M. et al. Impact of Long-Term Support with Berlin Heart EXCOR® in Pediatric Patients with Severe Heart Failure. Pediatr Cardiol 40, 1126–1133 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00246-019-02108-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00246-019-02108-0

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