Operator: Jeng Wei, MD, MSD, Director of Heart Center, Cheng-Hsin General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
The technique of implantation of Levitronic LVAD is simple. With or without extra-corporeal circulation, I bended the inflow cannula and inserted it into the left ventricle through the right superior pulmonary vein. TEE was used to confirm the proper position of the tip (about 2 cm crossing the mitral valve) of the cannula. The inflow cannula was inserted into the aorta through a Dacron graft that was anastomosed to the ascending aorta by direct sutures.