Artificial organs
-
Clinical Trial Controlled Clinical Trial
Biventricular bypass with oxygenation for postcardiotomy ventricular failure.
Between January 1984 and March 1995, biventricular bypass (BVB) with oxygenation was used in 17 patients for postcardiotomy ventricular failure at the Heart Institute of Japan, Tokyo Women's Medical College. Of the 17 patients, 12 (70.6%) were weaned from the circulatory support, and 8 (47.1%) were discharged from the hospital. ⋯ Causes of death were severe heart failure or ventricular arrhythmia in 6 patients and multiple organ failure in 3 patients. These results suggest that early application and timely weaning from biventricular bypass with oxygenation might be the effective circulatory support of choice for treatment of postcardiotomy ventricular failure.
-
Clinical Trial
Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation as a bridge to cardiac transplantation in children.
The feasibility and efficacy of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) as a bridge to cardiac transplantation was examined in 6 pediatric patients who suffered irreversible myocardial failure after undergoing surgery for congenital heart defects. The mean time of ECMO support was 260.5 h, range 101-402 h. Three patients underwent transplantation, 2 of whom are long-term survivors. ⋯ Infection did not occur in any of the 6 patients. Exchanging ECMO components was performed with no difficulties; these exchanges included a centrifugal pump once for 3 patients and a membrane oxygenator once for 2 patients. Our results indicate that ECMO can safely keep critically ill pediatric transplant candidates alive for more than 1 week with a low incidence of multiple organ failure.