Left ventricular assistance with Novacor device: the “Pavia Experience”

The shortage of donors is responsible for the majority of patients dying while awaiting transplantation. To rescue these critically ill patients, a wide variety of devices has been proposed for circulatory assistance as bridge to heart transplantation (1,2). The necessity of long periods of bridging because of donor scarcity and because of the need to allow the recovery of the patient before transplantation, has led to the consolidation of left ventricular assistance with electrically-powered devices (4). The wearable system of the Novacor device is the result of the effort to miniaturize the previous large external console. It can be now worn on a belt, allowing high degree of mobility and good quality of life during the waiting period (5). For this reason its use has spread to a large number of transplantation centers and the duration of the assistance has increased significantly over time. In some centers under assistance have been discharged and followed-up as outpatients, thus decreasing the economical impact of circulatory assistance on health care resources.