Pediatric mechanical circulatory support has evolved considerably in the past decade. Improvements in device design and availability have led to increased short-, medium-, and long-term support options for pediatric patients with heart failure. Most pediatric mechanical circulatory support is utilized as a bridge to transplant and as a bridge to recovery in patients with temporary etiologies of heart failure (i.e., myocarditis). Described herein is our recovery program, and we report our experience as an independent pediatric ventricular assist device program with an intracorporeal continuous-flow device employed as an out-of-hospital bridge to recovery for a child with end-stage chronic heart failure.
© 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.