Incidence of Ventricular Arrhythmias in Patients on Long-term Support With a Continuous-flow Assist Device (HeartMate II)

Andersen, Mads; Videbæk, Regitze; Boesgaard, Søren; Sander, Kåre; Hansen, Peter B.; Gustafsson, Finn

doi:10.1016/j.healun.2009.03.011

« Previous Next »The Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation
Volume 28, Issue 7 , Pages 733-735, July 2009

Incidence of Ventricular Arrhythmias in Patients on Long-term Support With a Continuous-flow Assist Device (HeartMate II)

Mads Andersen, MD
- Department of Cardiology, The Heart Centre, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark
- Reprint requests: Mads Andersen, MD, Department of Cardiology B, Rigshospitalet 2141, 9 Blegdamsvej, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark. Telephone: +45-24417760. Fax: +45-35452513
Regitze Videbæk, MD
- Department of Cardiology, The Heart Centre, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark
Søren Boesgaard, MD
- Department of Cardiology, The Heart Centre, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark
Kåre Sander, MD
- Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, The Heart Centre, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark
Peter B. Hansen, MD
- Department of Cardiothoracic Anesthesia, The Heart Centre, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark
Finn Gustafsson, MD
- Department of Cardiology, The Heart Centre, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark

Received 3 December 2008; received in revised form 31 January 2009; accepted 5 March 2009.

The incidence of ventricular tachycardia (VT) or ventricular fibrillation (VF) in patients supported with a continuous-flow left ventricular assist device (LVAD) has not been investigated in detail. In 23 consecutive recipients of a HeartMate II, we analyzed the incidence of VT/VF during a total of 266 months of follow-up. Sustained VT or VF occurred in 52% of the patients, with the majority of arrhythmias occurring in the first 4 weeks after LVAD implantation. VT/VF requiring implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) shock or external defibrillation occurred in 8 patients and significant hemodynamic instability ensued in 3 patients. There were no clear predictors of VT/VF, and it is argued that prophylactic ICD implantation should be considered in patients supported with a continuous-flow LVAD.