Institutional guidelines for the care of the patient with a ventricular-assist device requiring non-cardiac surgery

Patients requiring support for end-stage heart failure with long-term ventricular assist devices (VADs) are increasingly in need of non-cardiac surgery. There is little literature regarding the peri-operative management of these complex and sick patients with regards to facilitating multi-disciplinary communication to insure good outcomes. We present the results of our institutional task force that was convened to develop policies and procedure for the peri-operative management of patients with VADs requiring non-cardiac surgery. Keywords: ventricular assist devices, non-cardiac surgery, policy and guidelines (Published: 24 March 2011) Citation: Mechanical Circulatory Support 2011, 2: 5978 - DOI: 10.3402/mcs.v2i0.5978