New technologies in the treatment of severe cardiac failure: the Texas Heart Institute experience.

Various mechanical alternatives for the treatment of severe cardiac failure are currently in clinical use, and new mechanical devices are under preclinical and clinical investigation in laboratories around the world. These devices include the intraaortic balloon pump, left heart bypass pumps, left ventricular assist devices, and total artificial hearts. I describe briefly the devices and their applications with which my colleagues and I at the Texas Heart Institute have had experience.