Medical management of patients with continuous-flow left ventricular assist devices

The prevalence of patients living with advanced heart failure continues to rise. For a subset of these patients, continuous-flow left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) are a life-saving therapy. Given the efficacy and durability of contemporary LVAD devices, their use has increased exponentially in recent years. The medical management of patients with an LVAD is an area of expertise for advanced heart failure clinicians, but a general understanding of the initial approach to, and stabilization of, LVAD patients is an important skillset for many health care providers. The rapidly changing field of the medical management of LVAD patients is largely based on clinical experience and limited published data. In this manuscript, we integrate the available published data on the medical management of LVAD patients with the growing clinical experience.