**3. Temporary and durable mechanical circulatory support**

With the progress in comprehensive evaluation, and diagnostic and therapeutic approaches in patients with heart failure, device selection has become the cornerstone for improving outcomes. Guidelines in the acute and chronic management of cardiovascular failure have incorporated importance to categorize individuals based on the severity and acuity of the disease. Therefore, the Interagency Registry for Mechanically Assisted Circulatory Support (INTERMACS) was founded in 2005 to summarize the clinical outcome profiles of patients with advanced stage HF who receive a MCS device. This classification encompasses seven progressive clinical profiles within the NYHA class III and IV functional status. Short-term or temporary

### *A Historical Review of Mechanical Circulatory Support DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.110525*

devices are generally recommended to provide uni- or bi-ventricular assistance to patients with cardiogenic shock, decompensated heart failure, cardiac arrest, or high-risk percutaneous coronary interventions. Therefore, these devices are typically employed for bridging patients to transplantation, recovery, or bridge-to-decision. Models of temporary support have included the intra-aortic balloon pump, the Impella devices (AbioMed, Danvers, MA, USA), the TandemHeart (LivaNova, London, England, UK), the Rotaflow (Maquet), the CentriMag/PediMag (Abbott), and the veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. Durable devices have been divided as previously described, first-, second-, and third-generation devices based on the flow mechanics. Many of these devices have evolved to provide better features such a smaller size, improved biological compatibility, and an overall reduction in costs and adversity.
