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Of the patients with end-stage cardiomyopathy on a heart transplant list, 95% do not receive a donor heart. Due to this severe shortage of donor organs, an artificial replacement heart has been pursued for several decades. To date, 10 patients have received an Abiocor artificial replacement heart (Abiomed, Inc, Danvers, Mass), the latest artificial heart device available.Anesthetic management often is complicated by the preoperative multisystem organ failure arising from the patients advanced cardiomyopathy. Hemodynamic stabilization before cardiopulmonary bypass is extremely challenging, and the postbyposs period creates a unique situation in which the only control the anesthesia provider has on the hemodynamics is management of the systemic vascular resistance. This article describes the anesthetic management of the recipient of the Abiocor artificial heart with the longest survival time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Takayasu's arteritis, also known as Takayasu's syndrome, is a chronic inflammatory disease, which primarily affects large vessels including the aorta and its main branches. The anesthetic management for the patient presenting with Takayasu's arteritis is complicated by the multiple organ systems affected by the disease. A 59-year-old Chinese female with the diagnosis of Takayasu's arteritis presented with severe progressive occlusion of the thoracic and abdominal aorta and bilateral renal artery stenosis, necessitating an extra-anatomic aorto-aortic bypass and bilateral aorto-renal bypass. The patient tolerated the operative procedure without any untoward events. This case report discusses the pathophysiology of Takayasu's arteritis and the anesthetic management of aortic surgery specific to this particular disease process.