This Article  • References  • Full text PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citation map  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in JAMA  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

Louis B. Rice, MD; Adolf W. Karchmer, MD

JAMA. 1988;259(6):894-895.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

Recently, the interests and efforts of the scientific community to support or replace the severely dysfunctioning heart for variable periods have focused on the implantable total artificial heart (TAH) and the mechanical ventricular assist pump (VAP). Despite important technical advances in biomaterials, in the mechanical aspects of the devices, and in power sources, life-threatening thromboembolic, hemorrhagic, and infectious complications were promptly noted in association with use of these devices. Furthermore, use of the TAH was made difficult by the limited space available for its implantation within the thorax, while use of the VAP was restricted by its extracorporeal placement. Concurrent with the efforts to develop these mechanical devices, orthotopic cardiac transplantation became a reality. By the end of 1985, an international registry reported that 2577 patients had received cardiac transplants and that four-year survival among those heart recipients treated with cyclosporine was, by actuarial analysis, 76%.¹ The successes of . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Author Affiliations
New England Deaconess Hospital Harvard Medical School Boston

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?