Emergency Use of Wearable Left Ventricular Assist Devices in Patients Not Eligible for Heart Transplantation

Abstract Background We reviewed our experience concrning the clinical outcomes of emergency implantation of left ventricular assist devices (LVAD) in patients not eligible for heart transplantation (HTX). Patients and Methods Between January 1998 and September 2006, 62 patients were referred for emergency HTX including 35 (55%) who received cardiac allografts; 9 (14%) died on the waiting list. The other 18 subjects (31%) did not meet listing criteria due to pulmonary hypertension with massive transpulmonary gradients (TPG), severe diabetes, or another factor; 7 patients had wearable LVAD implants and the remaining 11 who had contraindications both to HTX and to LVAD implantation remained on medical therapy. Results Twelve month actuarial survivals were 47% in LVAD G1 vs 1% in medical therapy G2 ( P Conclusion Our limited experience indicated that emergency use of LVAD ensued a satisfactory outcome allowing better actuarial survival.