Treatment of profound heart failure by ventricular assist system

The current status of the clinical use of the ventricular assist system (VAS) is described. The VAS was applied to 297 patients with acute profound heart failure. The overall weaning rate was 44.8% and the survival rate was 25.3 %. VAS was also applied to 44 patients with chronic cardiogenic shock caused by cardiomyopathy. The major causes of death were heart failure and multiple organ failure (MOF). VAS is a powerful device to replace the cardiac pump function, by maintaining normal circulation and restoring a failing heart. Concerning cardiomyopathy patients, we think some candidates for heart transplantation may have the possibility of recovery by means of this long-term circulatory support. To improve the results of VAS application, early application or decrease in the duration of low cardiac output is most important. However, we think VAS application could be an alternative to medical therapy but not for heart transplantation.