Outcomes of Patients Receiving Temporary Circulatory Support Before Durable Ventricular Assist Device

Ventricular assist devices for durable support.

Clinical Challenge What can we offer a 70-year-old retired schoolteacher hospitalized with congestion for the third time in 6 months? The LVEF is 21%. Shortness of breath interrupts sleeping and dressing, and peak oxygen consumption of 9 mL/kg per minute confirms NYHA Class IV status. He has noninsulindependent diabetes and chronic coronary artery disease, with patent grafts to thin-caliber ves...

Preoperative patient optimization using extracorporeal life support improves outcomes of INTERMACS Level I patients receiving a permanent ventricular assist device.

OBJECTIVES Interagency Registry for Mechanical Assisted Circulatory Support (INTERMACS) Level I patients have the highest early mortality after ventricular assist device (VAD) implantation. This is determined by the exposure of patients in shock with acutely damaged end-organs and high catecholamine support to a significant surgical trauma. We report our experience with a bridge-to-bridge conce...

Advances in Mechanical Circulatory Support Quality of Life and Left Ventricular Assist Device Support

More than 5 million Americans are living with heart failure, with an additional 500 000 cases diagnosed each year.1 Ongoing improvements in patient management will only increase the number of patients surviving to develop severe refractory heart failure (stage D). Approximately 5% to 10% of all heart failure patients are classified as stage D and defined as patients who continue to have symptom...

Survival after left ventricular assist device with and without temporary right ventricular support.

BACKGROUND Right ventricular (RV) failure after the insertion of a left ventricular assist device (LVAD) historically results in poor outcomes. Patients requiring temporary RV support after LVAD insertion are a heterogeneous group of patients consisting of those in cardiogenic shock after myocardial infarction, to those with chronic decompensated heart failure. For patients requiring biventricu...

DECISION AID TO DETERMINE THE NECESSITY OF RIGHT VENTRICULAR SUPPORT FOR PATIENTS RECEIVING A LEFT VENTRICULAR ASSIST DEVICE by