Cardiowest Total Artificial Heart as Successful Bridge to Heart Transplantation in Terminally Ill Heart Failure Patients

634 Terminally ill heart failure patients awaiting heart transplantation (HT) who require mechanical circulatory assistance for survival may have right ventricular function that is too poor to permit isolated left ventricular assist device therapy. In our institution, between July 1, 1994 to December 31, 1996 we used the Cardiowest total artificial heart on such patients who eventually received a heart transplant (Group I). We compared these patients to other patients awaiting HT, who were not as ill prior to HT, who were successfully transplanted without need for any other circulatory assist device (Group II). TableConclusions: In patients fortunate enough to received eventual HT, the use of Cardiowest total artificial heart is a very effective bridge to HT, despite the high hospital charges associated with additional surgery and longer hospitalization. *p<0.01