Pediatric experience with the VentrAssist LVAD

Purpose. The purpose of this study is to describe the first experience of implanting a new left ventricular assist device in pediatric patients with end-stage heart failure. Description. In two recent prospective, international, multicenter clinical trials, three children (aged <= 16 years) were implanted successfully with the VentrAssist (Ventracor Limited, Chatswood, Australia), a relatively small, novel, continuous flow, third-generation left ventricular assist device. Evaluation. Despite the patients' disease severity (each child was in extremis at the time of implantation), VentrAssist (Ventracor Limited) implantation enabled each patient to be discharged home from the hospital. All patients survived for more than 1 year. One patient was successfully transplanted and another was bridged to an adequate degree of recovery; unfortunately, the third patient died on postoperative day 375 while waiting for a suitable donor heart. Consistent with the complications associated with left ventricular assist devices in adults, the main complications in these pediatric patients were infection and thromboembolism. Conclusions. The VentrAssist may provide a major advancement in the management of larger children and adolescents with end-stage heart failure.