PMID: 11908267Mar 23, 2002Paper

Mechanical alternatives to the human heart: intracorporeal assist systems and total artificial heart

The Israel Medical Association Journal : IMAJ
Jacob Lavee, Yoav Paz

Abstract

The currently available intracorporeal assist systems and total artificial heart provide long-term support for patients terminally ill with congestive heart failure, often in an out-of-hospital environment. While they are currently widely used mainly as a long-term bridge to heart transplantation, their inherent risks of infection or stroke are prompting interest in future devices that will be smaller, fully implantable and hopefully stroke-free. These devices will be described in the last part of this review.

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