The significant increase in the prevalence of heart failure in the United States has made this disease a major health problem. The continued shortage of donor organs has prevented heart transplantation from becoming an effective solution for the treatment of end-stage heart failure, and as a result, surgical treatments for heart failure have been reexamined. Surgical therapies represent the evolution of conventional operations, such as coronary artery bypass surgery, and the application of the more novel left ventricular (LV) reconstruction operations which address the geometry of the LV, the important component in the failing heart.
Copyright 2004 S. Karger AG, Basel