JTCS St. Jude Medical
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     

This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Personal Folders
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Author home page(s):
Sinan A. Simsir
Shu S. Lin
Carmelo A. Milano
Right arrow Permission Requests
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Simsir, S. A.
Right arrow Articles by Milano, C. A.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Simsir, S. A.
Right arrow Articles by Milano, C. A.
Related Collections
Right arrow Mechanical Circulatory Assistance

J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 2004;128:619-621
© 2004 The American Association for Thoracic Surgery

Brief communication

HeartMate XVE malfunction caused by fluid aspiration into the vent port

Sinan A. Simsir, MDa, Shu S. Lin, MD, PhDa, Myra F. Ellis, RN, MSNa, Stuart D. Russell, MDb, Carmelo A. Milano, MDa,*

a Department of Surgery, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA
b Department of Medicine, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA

Received for publication December 22, 2003; accepted for publication January 28, 2004.

* Address for reprints: Carmelo A. Milano, MD, Department of Surgery, Box 3043, Duke South, Durham, NC 27710, USA
milan002@mc.duke.edu

The first 20% of the full text of this article appears below.

The implantation of a left ventricular assist device (LVAD) provides a clinically meaningful survival benefit and better quality of life compared with medical therapy in patients with advanced heart failure.1 Malfunction of the LVAD, however, might significantly reduce the survival benefit it incurs. Seven of 41 deaths in patients with LVADs in the REMATCH trial (Randomized Evaluation of Mechanical Assistance for the Treatment of Congestive Heart Failure) were attributed to device malfunction.1 We present the case of a patient who had an unusual device complication. Fluid was aspirated into the vent port, resulting in the malfunction of the device and a clinical emergency. A treatment algorithm for this challenging problem is described.

Clinical summary

A 55-year-old man (6'5'', 183 lb) with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy had a HeartMate XVE (Thoratec Corp, Pleasanton, Calif) LVAD system implanted. He was convalescing on a step-down ward 3 weeks postoperatively, with stable LVAD flows of between 5 and 6 L/min. The patient was incontinent of urine at 5 AM on the day of the event. Urine was aspirated into the LVAD vent port. The low flow and power limit advisory alarms of the LVAD activated. The low . . . [Full Text of this Article]






HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
ANN THORAC SURG ASIAN CARDIOVASC THORAC ANN EUR J CARDIOTHORAC SURG
J THORAC CARDIOVASC SURG ICVTS ALL CTSNet JOURNALS
Copyright © 2004 by The American Association for Thoracic Surgery.