Mechanical Support of Heart and Lungs

The persistent shortage of donor organs forced us to repeatedly treat the lost function of the heart or lungs with artificial replacements back in the 1980s. Initially, only patients whose transplanted organ had failed were treated in this way, but with increasing experience, we also began to treat patients who were at risk of dying on the waiting list. We were the first team in the world to successfully bridge a 19-year-old with a heart-lung machine until transplantation. Together with our internists, we later introduced “awake ECMO internationally”, a procedure that was used thousands of times around the world during the COVID pandemic.With the advent of implantable blood pumps, the MHH then made a name for itself less through large numbers than through innovative treatment approaches and the introduction of new blood pumps.
Emergency lung transplantation after extracorporeal membrane oxygenation - EN

The paper describes the technique and results of the first lung transfers performed after support by ECMO

read more
Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation in awake patients as bridge to lung transplantation - EN

At a Glance Commentary Waiting times for lung transplantation (LuTx) are constantly increasing. Endotracheal intubation in patients with end-stage lung disease before LuTx is associated with a poor outcome. New strategies of bridging critical candidates to LuTx are of major interest. What This Study Adds to the Field Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation support in patients who […]

read more
Implantation of a centrifugal pump as a left ventricular assist device through a novel, minimized approach: upper hemisternotomy combined with anterolateral thoracotomy - EN

The top image shows the small incision for implanting a ventricular support system (artificial heart). This technique only became possible after the production of smaller systems in the course of development (picture below)

read more
Mechanical circulatory support in coronavirus disease-2019-positive patients with severe respiratory failure - EN

Extensive experience with ECMO has led to numerous interventions, including for COVID, often as non-intubated awake ECMO

read more
Pushing the boundaries of innovation: the potential of ex vivo organ perfusion from an interdisciplinary point of view - EN

The work describes the multidisciplinary, clinical and experimental options for  application of a system developed primarily for organ transport

read more

Prof. dr. dr. h.c. Axel Haverich