Left ventricular assist device driveline infection and the frequency of dressing change in hospitalized patients.

OBJECTIVES To determine if driveline infection is related to dressing change frequency in hospitalized adult patients with newly implanted left ventricular assist devices (LVAD). BACKGROUND Guidelines do not exist for the frequency of driveline exit-site dressing change in hospitalized patients resulting in wide variation in practice. METHODS A retrospective chart review was conducted on 68 patients implanted with a HeartMate II LVAD between August 2008 and September 2013 at an urban medical center. RESULTS No driveline infections were found. Frequency of the driveline dressing change varied from daily, three times a week, and weekly. The daily dressing change group was younger in age compared to the weekly group (p = 0.005) and three times a week group (p = 0.001). No other differences were found. CONCLUSION Driveline infections do not appear to be related to the frequency of dressing change in this population. Our data and other studies on this topic thus far are too limited to draw definitive conclusions about optimal frequency of dressing change for infection prevention.