Biventricular amputation for biventricular pulsatile assist device implantation in patients with severe ventricular septal perforation.

Complete ischaemic destruction of the cardiac apex as well as the majority of the ventricular septum is usually a lethal condition with no alternatives except mechanical circulation support and highly urgent heart transplantation. Depending on the mass of the necrotic and destructed myocardium, implantation of a ventricular assist device can be challenging due to insufficient tissue quality. We describe here a new approach to pulsatile Thoratec (Thoratec Corporation, Pleasanton, CA, USA) extracorporeal biventricular assist device implantation.