Ventricular assist devices as a bridge to heart transplantation in children

The increase in time waiting for appropriate pediatric allografts for heart transplantation has mandated the use of long-term mechanical assistance in the pediatric population. Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation support has been routinely used but is limited by both its inability to provide support without life-threatening complications for longer than 2 to 3 weeks as well as the inability of patients to achieve mobility. For the past 10 years, pediatric programs have increasing experience with the use of ventricular assist devices (VADs) to bridge patients to heart transplant. This retrospective study analyzed the clinical features and outcomes of 99 pediatric patients who underwent VAD implant as a bridge to heart transplant.

Between 1993 and 2003, the Pediatric Heart Transplant Study Group enrolled 2,375 patients (age 1 day-17.9 years) listed for heart transplant from 23 participating centers. Four percent (99 patients) of those listed received VAD support as a bridge to transplantation. Seventy-seven (77%) patients survived to transplant with a mean time on support of 57 days. There were 17 deaths on support and 5 bridged to recovery. Overall incidence of adverse events was similar to the adult data with a 19% risk of stroke. There was no difference in 5-year survival after transplant for patients on VAD at time of transplant compared with those (n = 2,293) not requiring VAD (77% vs 73%, P = .8). These data suggest that despite the lack of pediatric specific devices and relatively high adverse event rate, VADs may be used as a bridge to transplant therapy in appropriate-sized children with the expectation of a successful outcome in most patients.