[Recovery of severely decompensated hearts with a left ventricular assist device]

We evaluated the limits of recovery of decompensated hearts experimentally and clinically and studied the problems of applying a left ventricular assist device (LVAD). In the chronic experiments, 16 adult goats were studied as follows: Group I consisted of seven with left ventricular infarction in a 70-80% area of the free wall induced by the multiple-ligation method; Group II, three with infarcted areas larger than 80% of the free wall; Group III, three with a 30 min anoxic arrest, and Group IV, a 45-min anoxic arrest. An LVAD was applied in all goats, and a right ventricular assist device was applied simultaneously for two goats in Group IV. Clinically, 21 patients receiving treatment with an LVAD from December 1982 to September 1988 in our center were examined. No goat in Groups II and IV could be weaned from the LVAD. Thus, the severity of artificial heart failure in Groups I and III was considered to be the limit for accomplishing restoration. In successfully-weaned cases, both in experimental and clinical settings, periods of LVAD therapy with or without IABP were less than two weeks, which was thought to be the upper time limits for LVAD application. All but one successfully-weaned patients were alive in the experiment, while clinically many patients died of multiple organ failures regardless of the results of the LVAD assistance. Analysis of data suggested that the difference was caused by the durations of the LVAD applications and weanings, the degree of right ventricular failure, the doses of catecholamine used, and the systemic care afforded, especially during tracheal intubation.