Surgical methods to reverse left ventricular remodeling.

Heart transplantation remains the gold standard treatment for "end-stage" dilated cardiomyopathy. However, its epidemiologic impact on the heart failure problem continues to be small due to limited donor organ availability and contraindications. Therefore, several "conventional" surgical procedures have been developed to reverse the vicious cycle of ventricular remodeling that accompanies systolic heart failure and to improve symptoms and survival of the patients. This review discusses indications, results, and limitations of the most common surgical methods currently used to arrest or reverse cardiac remodeling.