12-year-old Alexander is the first patient in Sweden to have received an EXCOR® Pediatric ventricular assist device.

Alexander had suffered a stroke in October 2005 at the age of eleven. The resulting dilatative cardiomyopathy had weakened his heart so severely that doctors listed him for a heart transplant.

In December 2006 doctors decided to implant an LVAD in order to bridge the time until a donor heart would become available. Dr. Sune Johansson from the University Hospital Lund implanted an EXCOR® Pediatric LVAD with 60 ml pump volume, 12 mm apical inflow cannula and 9 mm atrial outflow cannula.

The waiting time for a donor heart in Sweden is approximately six months. The longest time a patient has been supported by EXCOR® Pediatric is approximately 15 months.