ABSTRACT
Heart transplantation was planned for a 10-year old boy who had dilated cardiomyopathy with severe congestive heart failure and had been on dopamine for 1month. However, partial left ventriculectomy and mitral annuloplasty were performed instead, because there was no donor heart of the adequate size and the symptoms were aggravated. The clinical symptoms were markedly improved after the surgery. Comparing the postoperative echocardiographic results with the preoperative results, there were remarkable changes in the left ventricular ejection fraction(preoperative LV EF 17% to postoperative 3 months 29%, 6 months 35%, 1 year 36%) and the left ventricular end-diastolic dimension(preoperative 72 mm to postoperative 3 months 59 mm, 6 months 61 mm, 1 year 61 mm). Partial left ventriculectomy and mitral annuloplasty reduced the cardiac loading in the dilated cardiomyopathy. Partial left ventriculectomy and mitral annuloplasty may be considered as one of the alternative surgical metho s to carry over until a heart transplantation can be performed, especially for children.