Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Case Reports
. 2025 Jun 26:33:220-224.
doi: 10.1016/j.xjtc.2025.06.005. eCollection 2025 Oct.

Neonatal paracorporeal ventricular assist device as bridge to neonatal heart transplant: Case report

Affiliations
Case Reports

Neonatal paracorporeal ventricular assist device as bridge to neonatal heart transplant: Case report

Lee M Fuentes et al. JTCVS Tech. .
No abstract available

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors reported no conflicts of interest. The Journal policy requires editors and reviewers to disclose conflicts of interest and to decline handling or reviewing manuscripts for which they may have a conflict of interest. The editors and reviewers of this article have no conflicts of interest.

Figures

None
Graphical abstract
None
Berlin Heart placed at 20 hours of life as a bridge to neonatal heart transplant.
Figure 1
Figure 1
Patient after Berlin Heart Excor device placement in a left ventricular assist device configuration. The 6-mm inflow and 5-mm outflow cannulas are seen entering the epigastrium. The outflow cannula is connected to an 8-mm graft and telescoped to a 6-mm graft that is anastomosed to the aorta.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Intraoperative photograph from neonatal heart transplantation at 28 days of life. The donor heart is seen adjacent to the mediastinum of a 28-day-old patient who was supported with a Berlin Heart Excor device since 20 hours of life.
Figure E1
Figure E1
Chest radiograph of patient with dilated cardiomyopathy demonstrating a cardiothoracic ratio approaching 1.
Figure E2
Figure E2
Intraoperative photograph from insertion of the Berlin Heart Excor Device. The apical (inflow) cannula of a Berlin Heart Excor device is being parachuted into the left ventricle of a 20-hour-old patient.
Figure E3
Figure E3
To accommodate the size discrepancy between the neonatal aorta and the 5-mm apical (outflow) cannula, a 6-mm graft was anastomosed to the aorta and is being “telescoped” into a larger 8-mm graft to fit the outflow cannula of the Berlin Heart Excor Device (BHED).

References

    1. Dipchand A.I. Current state of pediatric cardiac transplantation. Ann Cardiothorac Surg. 2018;7(1):31–55. doi: 10.21037/acs.2018.01.07. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Williams R.J., Lu M., Sleeper L.A., et al. Pediatric heart transplant waiting times in the United States since the 2016 allocation policy change. Am J Transpl. 2022;22(3):833–842. doi: 10.1111/ajt.16921. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Almond C.S., Thiagarajan R.R., Piercey G.E., et al. Waiting list mortality among children listed for heart transplantation in the United States. Circulation. 2009;119(5):717–727. doi: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.108.815712. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Puggia I., Merlo M., Barbati G., et al. Natural history of dilated cardiomyopathy in children. J Am Heart Assoc Cardiovasc Cerebrovasc Dis. 2016;5(7) doi: 10.1161/JAHA.116.003450. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Zafar F., Conway J., Bleiweis M.S., et al. Berlin Heart EXCOR and ACTION post-approval surveillance study report. J Heart Lung Transpl. 2021;40(4):251–259. doi: 10.1016/j.healun.2021.01.010. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources