Left-ventricular assist devices have already gained an international place in the treatment of end-stage heart failure. It is expected that in future they will be increasingly used as a temporary bridging following the recovery from heart failure and to a lesser extent as a bridge to heart transplantation. Three patients with end-stage heart failure, men aged 68, 57 and 49 years, received a left-ventricular assist device (LVAD) as a bridge to transplantation. The device chosen was a Heartmate Vented Electric System (ThermoCardiosystems; Woburn, Massachusetts, US). In this system a pump is implanted under the diaphragm and connected to the apex of the left ventricle and the pars ascendens aortae. The first two patients reached the time of transplantation and used the LVAD for 367 and 416 days respectively. The third patient died after the pump had been implanted, due to progressive right-ventricle failure. The first patient died shortly after the heart transplantation.