Left ventricular assist device as an alternative for Norwood-Sano in hipoplasic left heart syndrome, an experimental model

Abstract

Hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS) continues to be a challenge in terms of morbimortality. Norwood-Sano surgery has been classically the correction of choice, the introduction of new techniques like biventricular repair, in favorable cases, and hybrid procedures as a step prior to cardiac transplantation have not improved the univentricular results. Technological advances and improvements in anticoagulation therapies have made possible to implant ventricular assist devices (VAD) during the neonatal period. This has motivated us to start a left VAD program in an animal model of HLHS. Our objective is to use long term VAD in a biventricular condition in patients with HLHS as a bridge to cardiac transplantation. Although the conditions have not been met to start a program for patients, the initial results show that the technique is feasible in pigs. We believe that this line of research is worth exploring as cardiac transplant in conditions of biventricular physiology could be less risky and offer better results than the classical univentricular path.