Successful pediatric orthotopic heart transplantation after three runs of mechanical circulatory support

Mechanical circulatory support has become a well-established therapy to bridge patients with intractable heart failure to either heart transplantation or recovery. We report our experience of a child with a diagnosis of unexplained familial dilated cardiomyopathy, who presented with cyclical episodes of severe life-threatening heart failure treated with 3 different runs of MCS between August 2008 and May 2011.