Continuous flow left ventricular assist devices and gastrointestinal bleeding

Gastrointestinal bleeding with continuous-flow left ventricular assist devices.

Continuous-flow left ventricular assist device (CF-LVAD) insertion is a life-saving procedure that is being increasingly used in patients with advanced heart failure. However, patients with CF-LVADs are at an increased risk of gastrointestinal bleeding (GIB). Bleeding can occur anywhere in the GI tract with lesions being more prevalent in the upper GI tract than in the lower GI tract. The patho...

Gastrointestinal angiodysplasia is associated with significant gastrointestinal bleeding in patients with continuous left ventricular assist devices

BACKGROUND AND STUDY AIMS Patients with a continuous-flow left ventricular assist device (LVAD) have a 65 % incidence of bleeding events within the first year. The majority of gastrointestinal bleeding (GIB) is from gastrointestinal angiodyplasia (GIAD). The primary aim of the study was to determine whether GIAD was associated with a higher rate of significant bleeding, an increased number of b...

Pre-Operative Right Ventricular Dysfunction Is Associated With Gastrointestinal Bleeding in Patients Supported With Continuous-Flow Left Ventricular Assist Devices.

OBJECTIVES This study sought to determine whether severe right ventricular (RV) dysfunction in the pre-operative setting is associated with an increased risk of gastrointestinal bleeding (GIB) post-left ventricular assist device (LVAD). BACKGROUND GIB is a significant complication in patients supported with continuous-flow LVADs. The impact of RV dysfunction on the risk of GIB has not been in...

Continuous-flow left ventricular assist devices induce left ventricular reverse remodeling.

1. Stoica SC, Cafferty F, Pauriah M, et al. The cumulative effect of acute rejection on development of cardiac allograft vasculopathy. J Heart Lung Transplant 2006;25:420-5. 2. Gilad S, Meiri E, Yogev Y, et al. Serum microRNAs are promising novel biomarkers. PLoS One 2008;3:e3148. 3. Bartel DP. MicroRNAs: genomics, biogenesis, mechanism, and function. Cell 2004;116:281-97. 4. Shan J, Feng L, Lu...

Left Ventricular Assist Devices.