LVAD implantation may serve as a successful bridge to recovery in patients with anthracycline-induced terminal heart failure who are contraindicated for early heart transplantation.
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May support LVAD bridge-to-recovery in anthracycline cardiomyopathy; hypothesis-generating and should not yet change practice.
Anthracycline treatments are hampered by dose-related cardiotoxicity, frequently leading to heart failure (HF) with a very poor prognosis. The authors report a case of a 19-year-old man developing HF after anthracycline treatment for Ewing sarcoma. Despite medical treatment, his condition deteriorated to terminal HF, leading to implantation of a mechanical left ventricular assist device (LVAD). His heart function recovered, allowing explantation of the device 14 months after implantation. Heart transplantation is often contraindicated in the first years after treatment for cancers, and LVAD as "bridge to recovery" may be warranted in similar patients.
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Appel et al. (2012) studied this question.
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