Treatment of cardiac allograft failure by use of an intraaortic axial flow pump.

Since April 1988 we have used the Hemopump device, a new means of circulatory support, to successfully treat three orthotopic heart transplant recipients with biventricular failure refractory to conventional therapy. The Hemopump device is a 21F catheter-mounted, transvalvular, intraaortic axial flow pump. Power to the pump is percutaneously transmitted from an external electromechanical drive console by a flexible drive cable. We first used the pump in a 61-year-old man in whom severe steroid-resistant rejection developed 28 days after heart transplant, resulting in cardiogenic shock (cardiac index less than 2.0 L/min/m2) despite maximal inotropic support. In the second case a 49-year-old man with no evidence of pulmonary hypertension sustained cardiac arrest 2 hours after heart transplant, necessitating open chest massage and emergency cardiopulmonary bypass. The third patient was a 9-year-old boy in whom rejection developed 5 months after heart transplant, resulting in congestive heart failure that was unresponsive to maximal medical therapy. The device was implanted by way of the femoral artery approach in the first case, the ascending aorta in the second, and the distal abdominal aorta in the third. Duration of support was 46 hours, 65 hours, and 6 days, respectively. Increased blood flow provided by the pump ranged from 2 to 4 L/min. No device-related complications, such as hemolysis, infection, or thromboembolic events, occurred. All patients recovered normal heart function and were weaned from the device. The first patient is well after 12 months. The second patient died of metastatic lymphoma at 2 months, and the third died of Pseudomonas pneumonia after 2 weeks.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)