**Meet the editors**

Dr. Loforte is a certified surgeon actively practicing cardiac surgery at the Department of Cardiothoracic, Transplantation and Vascular Surgery, S. Orsola Hospital, Bologna University, Italy, with the position of consultant sugeon and co-chair of the mechanical circulatory support program.

He received his training in cardiothoracic surgery at the University of Bologna, S. Orsola Hospital, Italy, atthe S. Camillo Hospital, Rome, Italy, at the St. Antonius Ziekenhuis, Nieuwegein, the Netherlands, and at the Deutsches Herzzentrum Berlin, Germany. He additionally joined the Michael E. DeBakey Department of Surgery, Division of Transplant and Assist Devices, in Houston, Texas, USA.

Dr. Loforte is a member of a number of professional organizations, including the prestigious STS, ISHLT, ASAIO, EACTS, ISMCS, and RHICS, among others. He has lectured worldwide and written more than 300 papers, including peer-reviewed original articles, abstracts, conference proceedings, book chapters, and manuals. He is active in numerous clinical and experimental international research projects, taskforces, and multisciplinary committes mainly focusing on heart transplantation and mechanical circulatory support. He serves as a reviewer for 21 international journals and is a member of nine editorial boards . He received a 'European PhD label' in Organ Transplantation and various other international awards in Europe and USA.

Dr. Montalto obtained his medical degree from the University of Naples "Federico II" School of Medicine in Naples, Italy. After completing his residency in cardiac surgery at the same university, he completed his training at the Cardiac Surgery Center of the San Camillo Hospital in Rome, Italy. Since 2006, he has been a permanent staff surgeon at the Department of Cardiac

Surgery and Transplantation of the San Camillo Hospital. Dr. Montalto has shown particular interest in the field of surgical treatment of advanced heart failure, becoming familiar with the management of patients implanted with mechanical devices. He has been the head of the VAD program of the Cardiac Surgery Center at the San Camillo Hospital since 2012. He is also an active member of SICCH and EUROMACS.

Cristiano Amarelli is a nonacademic cardiac surgeon dedicated to heart transplantation for the last 15 years and he authored several publications in the field of transplantation, mechanical valve, and mechanical circulatory support (MCS). Born in Naples, he graduated from the Second University of Naples where he completed his training in cardiovascular surgery in 2003. He

Contents

**Preface VII**

Antonio Loforte

**Selection 11**

Chapter 3 **Donor Heart Allocation 35**

**Assist Devices 45**

Costello

Toyoda

Chapter 1 **Introductory Chapter: Dedicated Initial Giants Breaking the**

**Section 2 Current Panorama of Heart Replacement Therapy 9**

Chapter 4 **Heart Transplantation in the Era of the Left Ventricular**

Chapter 5 **Role of Short-Term Percutaneous Mechanical Circulatory**

Ahmet Dolapoglu, Eyup Avci and Ahmet Celik

**Section 3 Pediatric and Congenital Heart Disease Treatment 77**

**with Congenital Heart Disease 79**

Chapter 6 **Surgical Management for Advanced Heart Failure in Adults**

Crystal L. Valadon, Erin M. Schumer and Mark S. Slaughter

Chapter 2 **Heart Transplant: Current Indications and Patient**

**Barriers to Successful Cardiac Transplantation Therapy 3**

Ulises López-Cardoza, Carles Díez-López and José González-

Louis H. Stein, Mohammad Choudhary and Scott C. Silvestry

**Support Devices as Bridge-to-Heart Transplantation 67**

Michael Mazzei, Suresh Keshavamurthy, Abul Kashem and Yoshiya

**Section 1 Introduction 1**

stimulated the need for European Consensus Conference on thoracic donors within the European Cardiothoracic Transplant Association (ECTTA) and collaborated with the education committee, editing the heart module of the ESOT E-learning platform on transplantation. He takes an active part on the editorial board of the ASAIO, is an active reviewer of many journals and international meetings, and was involved in the successful editorial project of the "Mechanical Circulatory Support in End-Stage Heart Failure." He is involved in networking MCS and transplant professionals under the auspices of National Transplant Center and the Italian Society of Cardiac Surgery.
