Summary

This article discusses advanced treatments for heart failure (HF) and severe aortic stenosis (SAS). Patients with advanced HF require special intervention, including left ventricular assist device (LVAD) implantation. Studies of the HeartMate II LVAD reported 79% to 90% rates of survival to transplant, recovery, or ongoing device support at 180 days [John R et al. Ann Thorac Surg 2011; Starling RC et al. J Am Coll Cardiol 2011; Pagani FD et al. J Am Coll Cardiol 2009; Miller LW et al. N Engl J Med 2007] and 58% to 63% 2-year survival [Park SJ et al. Circ Heart Fail 2012; Slaughter MS et al. N Engl J Med 2009].