A successful retraining of the left ventricle with a left ventricular assist device (bio-medicus) after the arterial switch operation

We experienced the case of a patient with d-TGA, small VSD who underwent arterial switch operation (ASO) at the age of 8 weeks. In pre-operative UCG, the LV posterior wall thickness was only 3.0 mm. LV systolic pressure had dropped to 29 mmHg at the time of operation. After arterial switch and VSD closure, myocardial contractility and coronary perfusion were good without any ST-T changes, however, the patient could not be weaned from cardiopulmonary bypass. Left ventricular assist device (LVAD) was then applied and LV training was performed with appropriate pre and after-load. On the 4th operative day, the patient was successfully weaned from LVAD. Training of the left ventricle with LVAD will be a useful life-saving method in the case of left ventricular failure after arterial switch operation.