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Published on: July 18, 2014
Incidence of ventricular arrhythmias in patients on long-term support with a continuous-flow assist device (HeartMate
Mads Andersen1, Regitze Videbaek, Søren Boesgaard
1Department of Cardiology, The Heart Centre, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark. madsand@dadlnet.dk
Abstract:
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.
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