TandemHeart as a Rescue Therapy for Patients With Critical Aortic Valve Stenosis

Past and present of cardiocirculatory assist devices: a comprehensive critical review

“…The Tandem Heart and the Impella have been used successfully in several different clinical settings ranging from a bridge to transplant, to high-risk percutaneous and surgical coronary revascularization,[68]–[71] severe allograft rejection[72] during high-risk abdominal surgery,[73] and recovery from fulminant miocarditis,[74] or as a rescue in critical aortic valve stenosis [75]. These two kinds of pump mainly suffered from technical and constructive drawbacks, including the interatrial septal course for the Tandem Heart and the low pump power with 2.5 L/min of flow for the Impella.…”

Hemodynamic Support with Impella 2.5 during Balloon Aortic Valvuloplasty in a High-Risk Patient

“…Alternatively, Moreno et al reported the experience of aortic valvuloplasty in the setting of cardiogenic shock without PVAD (n = 21) 12 . Later, Gregoric et al implanted a TandemHeart® in AS patients also presenting with cardiogenic shock or cardiac arrest (n = 10) 9 . Based on these reports, two groups appeared to do better when PVAD (TandemHeart®) was used: high‐risk AS patients during BAV and patients with AS in cardiogenic shock prior to aortic valve replacement.…”

“…Both have been used primarily in cases of high‐risk coronary intervention in the setting of low‐left ventricular systolic function 2–5 . The use of these two devices has been described in only a few cases of severe aortic stenosis (AS) 6–9 . However, AS has been an exclusion criterion during clinical trials using the Impella, due in part to the fear of placing a relatively stiff 12‐Fr catheter across a stenotic aortic valve 2,7 .…”

Circulatory support in severe aortic stenosis

“…In one study of eight patients presenting with aortic stenosis and either cardiac arrest or cardiogenic shock, support provided by early placement of the TandemHeart Percutaneous Ventricular Assist Device (pVAD; Cardiac Assist, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA) allowed successful conventional AVR with only one in-hospital death 13. The role of surgically implantable left ventricular assist devices, using rotary-pump technology to provide continuous blood flow,14 has yet to be tested in patients with critical aortic stenosis.…”