This is a much needed and awaited update of a paper first published in 2013, delineating what are considered the basic requirements to successfully run a department of cardiac surgery in Germany.

In an impressive series of 510 patients treated over 10 years, overall survival at 1, 3, and 5 years after HVAD-implantation was 66%, 49.4%, and 37.4%.

In 582 patients having undergone lung transplantation the experience with implanting metal stents for bronchial stenosis, a dreaded complication, was quite favorable, also in the long term.