Small infants with severe left ventricular dysfunction (LVD) carry a poor prognosis with limited therapeutic options. Although mechanical support and heart transplantation are definitive therapies, improvement of left ventricular function with reversible pulmonary artery banding (rPAB) has been described. We report two cases of LVD treated with rPAB. One was successfully temporized, and one progressed to requiring transplantation, indicating that appropriate patient selection is critical to this technique's success.
Keywords: ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation); heart failure; pulmonary artery band; transplantation.