Left ventricular assist device (LVAD) program in Chile: first successful experience in South America.

Background: The need to have a variety of tools to deal with end-stage heart failure (ES-HF), along with the limited heart transplantation availability encouraged us to create a pilot Left ventricular assist device (LVAD) program in a public health care system hospital in Chile.

Methods: A retrospective analysis of the first nine patients of an ongoing LVAD program initiated on August 2013 was performed, completing an average of 30 months of follow-up. The most important events regarding to morbidity and mortality are described.

[Left ventricular assistant devices for end-stage heart failure: report of two cases].

In the last 2 decades, there have been significant advances in medical treatment of heart failure. However, there is a group of patients who are refractory to the available medical therapy and progress inevitably to a state of end-stage heart failure, whose only therapeutic alternative is cardiac transplantation. But this is an option limited by the scarce availability of donors.

Risk scores do not predict high mortality after coronary artery bypass surgery in the presence of diastolic dysfunction.

Background: Although global postoperative mortality after on-pump coronary artery bypass grafting is approximately 3%, in some groups it can be considerably higher. Many conditions are known to increase mortality and have been included in well-known scoring systems; however, left ventricular diastolic dysfunction has not been sufficiently evaluated to identify its predictive value for mortality after coronary artery bypass grafting, nor is it integrated in currently used risk scores.

Methods: Left ventricular filling pattern was prospectively evaluated in 191 patients scheduled for on-pump coronary artery bypass grafting.