Left Ventricular Reduction for Idiopathic Dilated Cardiomyopathy as Alternative to Transplant - Truth or Dare?[*]

Background: Although the concept of reducing wall tension a treatment for advanced heart failure is convincing, clinical data from the Batista operation are conflicting. Despite a number of publications, it is not clear whether left ventricular reduction surgery truly benefits patients with idiopathic, dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). Surgery may reduce wall tension, but the reason for dilation and contractile dysfunction remains. Thus, the potential benefit of the operation may be overshadowed by the natural course of the underlying disease. Cases: We report a series of five cases where left ventricular reduction was performed and physiological geometry was restored in patients with DCM by a modification of Dor's endoventricular patch plasty. All patients demonstrated an improvement in cardiac function immediately after the operation. This improvement was sustained in one of the patients after 18 months of follow-up. Another patient developed severe heart failure due to therapy-resistant ventricular arrhythmia (Lown IV b), and underwent successful transplantation 4 months after ventricular reduction surgery. Left ventricular dilation reoccurred in two patients 9 and 12 months after reduction surgery, and they were listed for transplant. One patient died after 9 weeks due to sepsis and respiratory dysfunction. Conclusions: Although the endoventricular patch plasty, as used in this study, is well tolerated by most patients with dilated cardiomyopathy, and results in immediate improvement of contractile function, the long-term benefits of this technique for DCM are uncertain. Thus, the technique is currently not an alternative for heart transplantation. However, the procedure may be an option in patients with contraindications for transplantation.

Key words:

Heart failure - DCM - Dor - Fontan

1 Part of this work was presented at the 3^rd Joint Meeting of the German, Austrian and Swiss Societies for Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery in Lucerne, Switzerland, February 2000.

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1 Part of this work was presented at the 3^rd Joint Meeting of the German, Austrian and Swiss Societies for Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery in Lucerne, Switzerland, February 2000.