Preface

Abstract

The medical treatment of heart failure has such severe limitations that entire categories of surgical approaches have been developed to treat the medical failures. They include cardiac transplantation, mechanical circulatory assistance, devices that alter the ssize or shape of the left ventricle, and specifically designed surgical procedures. Cardiac transplantation techniques were described in the May 1999 issue of Operative Techniques in Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery. Contemporary left ventricular surgical reconstruction techniques were first described in the May 1997 issue, and a 5-year update was published in the May 2002 issue, the 2 issues documenting the remarkably rapid evolution of these surgical procedures. Mechanical circulatory assistance devices were last addressed in the November 1999 issue, but again, the technology has evolved so quickly in this field that we have updated the techniques that are in current use in this issue of Operative Techniques. The authors who provided the individual articles for this issue are the principal leaders and acknowledged authorities on each of the devices described. Thus, this updated compendium of how to implant these contemporary assist devices should serve as an important resource for our readers.