The Registry Report of Heart Transplantation in Japan (1999-2014).

formed under the newly introduced Organ Transplant Law in February 1999. The number of heart transplants per year rose from 3 initially to 5, then to nearly 10. After the legislative amendments it rose to 30 and then 37 per year (Figure 1). Most of the early VADs used for BTT were extracorporeal devices, with implantable devices used mainly for clinical research or experimental trials of at-home treatment. The extension of insurance cover to compact non-pulsatile flow implantable LVADs in April 2011 as a form of BTT treatment has led to increased use of this type of VAD.