Skip to main content
Log in

Five-week use of a monopivot centrifugal blood pump as a right ventricular assist device in severe dilated cardiomyopathy

  • Case Report
  • Artificial Heart (Clinical)
  • Published:
Journal of Artificial Organs Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Right heart failure is a critical complication in patients requiring mechanical ventricular support. However, it is often difficult to provide adequate right ventricular support in the acute phase. A 41-year-old woman diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy with severe right heart failure underwent implantation of a paracorporeal pulsatile left ventricular assist device (LVAD, Nipro Corporation, Tokyo, Japan) and a MERA monopivot centrifugal pump (Senko Medical Instrument Manufacturing Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan) as a right ventricular assist device (RVAD). The patient developed ischemic enteritis 3 weeks after surgery, necessitating fasting and reversal of anticoagulation therapy. A target international normalized ratio of 1.5 was selected, and aspirin administration was discontinued. Following recovery without thromboembolic events, the patient failed the RVAD discontinuation test. Five weeks after surgery, the monopivot centrifugal pump was exchanged for a pulsatile pump. No thrombus was evident on the centrifugal pump. The patient was undergoing cardiac rehabilitation at the time of this writing and awaiting heart transplantation.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Farrar DJ, Hill JD, Pennington DG, McBride LR, Holman WL, Kormos RL, et al. Preoperative and postoperative comparison of patients with univentricular and biventricular support with the Thoratec ventricular assist device as a bridge to cardiac transplantation. J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg. 1997;113:202–9.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Yamane T, Nonaka K, Miyoshi H, Maruyama O, Nishida M, Kosaka R, et al. Pivot wear of a centrifugal blood pump developed for circulatory assist. J Artif Organs. 2008;11:232–7.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Yamane T, Kosaka R, Nishida M, Maruyama O, Yamamoto Y, Kuwana K, et al. Enhancement of hemocompatibility of the MERA monopivot centrifugal pump: toward medium-term use. Artif Organs. 2013;37:217–21.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Saito S, Sakaguchi T, Miyagawa S, Nishi H, Yoshikawa Y, Fukushima S, et al. Recovery of right heart function with temporary right ventricular assist using a centrifugal pump in patients with severe biventricular failure. J Heart Lung Transpl. 2012;31:858–64.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Takayama H, Chen JM, Jorde UP, Naka Y. Implantation technique of the CentriMag biventricular assist device allowing ambulatory rehabilitation. Interact Cardiovasc Thorac Surg. 2011;12:110–1.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Conflict of interest

None.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Takamichi Inoue or Tadashi Kitamura.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Inoue, T., Kitamura, T., Torii, S. et al. Five-week use of a monopivot centrifugal blood pump as a right ventricular assist device in severe dilated cardiomyopathy. J Artif Organs 17, 95–98 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10047-013-0740-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10047-013-0740-2

Keywords

Navigation