Use of DuraHeart® support for more than 1 year as the first successful bridge to heart transplantation in Japan.

We report the first successful case in Japan of use of a DuraHeart(®) for 437 days as a bridge to heart transplantation. A 55-year-old woman developed dilated cardiomyopathy at the age of 47. Her heart condition gradually deteriorated, and she became dependent on catecholamine support, therefore a DuraHeart(®) was implanted. She had an uncomplicated postoperative course, and was discharged on postoperative day (POD) 54. Only once, the alarm of the controller of the DuraHeart(®) gave a problem, and had to be replaced. She had no adverse events while she awaited heart transplantation as an outpatient. She underwent heart transplantation on POD 437. Strong adhesion of the drive line to the liver and peritoneal membrane made resection difficult. No thrombus formation was found inside the DuraHeart(®), but a wedge thrombus was observed around the inflow cannula in the left ventricle. She was discharged on POD 38 after the transplantation.