Current issues of destination therapy in Japan: to achieve 5−year or even longer survival

Abstract

In April 2021, destination therapy (DT) was finally approved in Japan. Since DT does not aim at heart transplantation (HT), our goal is to have a patient safely remain on an implantable ventricular assist device (VAD) for the rest of his/her life. To achieve this goal, similarly to bridge-to-transplant (BTT) patients, the authors believe the following six aspects are even more crucial in DT patients: (1) to appropriately assess risks before implantation, (2) to carefully determine the ability to manage the device by multidisciplinary discussions, (3) to prevent complications by improving the quality of care, (4) to expand the number of facilities that can take care of DT patients by improving collaboration among the facilities, (5) to reduce the burden of caregivers by utilizing social resources, and (6) to establish a home palliative care system based on advance care planning. In addition, for elderly DT patients to live happy and long lives, it is essential to help them to find a purpose of life and to keep activities of daily living, such as employment, schooling, and participation in social activities, just like the general elderly population. Our goals are not only to do our best for the patients just in front of us, but also to establish a system to follow up our DT cohort, same as BTT one, by all-Japan manner. In the present review, we discuss the current state of DT in Japan and what we need to focus on to maintain or improve its long-term performance.