McLarty Allison
Associate Clinical Professor, Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, USA.
Clin Med Insights Cardiol. 2015 Apr 29;9(Suppl 2):1-5. doi: 10.4137/CMC.s19694. eCollection 2015.
Heart failure is epidemic in the United States with a prevalence of over 5 million. The diagnosis carries a mortality risk of 50% at 5 years rivaling many diagnoses of cancer. Heart transplantation, long the "gold standard" treatment for end stage heart failure unresponsive to maximal medical therapy falls way short of meeting the need with only about 2,000 transplants performed annually in the United States due to donor limitation. Left ventricular devices have emerged as a viable option for patients as both a "bridge to transplantation" and as a final "destination therapy".
心力衰竭在美国极为常见，患病率超过500万。该诊断在5年内的死亡率风险为50%，可与许多癌症诊断相媲美。长期以来，心脏移植一直是终末期心力衰竭对最大程度药物治疗无反应的“金标准”治疗方法，但由于供体限制，美国每年仅进行约2000例移植手术，远远无法满足需求。左心室装置已成为患者的一种可行选择，既作为“移植桥梁”，也作为最终的“目标治疗”。
