• Stephen Westaby, Kyriakos Anastasiadis, and George M Wieselthaler.
• Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, John Radcliffe Hospital, Headley Way, Headington, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK. swestaby@ahf.org.uk
• Nat Rev Cardiol. 2012 Apr 1;9(4):195-208.

AbstractThis Review explores contemporary circulatory support in profound postinfarction cardiogenic shock. Frequently, death is the only alternative to implantation of a blood pump, so prospective randomized trials of device versus medical treatment are unacceptable and evidence is derived from clinical experience. Irrespective of ACC/AHA and European guidelines, no study has shown survival benefit for the intra-aortic balloon pump in patients with established shock. In the past 10 years, the safety and durability of mechanical blood pumps has improved considerably. New temporary and long-term rotary pumps have transformed outcomes for patients with acute heart failure. For urgent resuscitation, outreach salvage, and transportation extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is a reliable, but time limited, first step. ECMO decompresses the venous system, provides flow, and ensures oxygenation, but does not unload the failing left ventricle. Myocardial stunning takes days, and sometimes weeks, to recover. Effective ventricular unloading is best achieved by surgical implantation of a temporary rotary or volume-displacement pump. After cardiopulmonary resuscitation, hemodynamic stabilization allows assessment of cerebral injury and prognosis. Published series demonstrate that 50-75% of patients with profound shock can be salvaged either through native heart recovery, urgent transplantation, or switch to a long-term pump.

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