[Effect of pulsatility on markers of vascular damage in patients with implanted continuous flow mechanical...

Ventricular assist devices are an important therapeutic modality in advanced surgical therapy of end-stage heart failure. Previously most frequently used devices generated mainly non-pulsatile blood flow. Despite indisputable clinical success of this therapy, we encounter complications specific to the devices generating continuous flow. Complications are mainly attributed to changes in shear stress and subsequent changes of the blood vessel characteristics, mainly of endothelium. Effect of continuous flow on the vasculature and blood elements, therefore, became a subject of intense recent research. Effect of continuous flow on the vascular bed is subject of intensive research. Widespread methods used in angiology measuring the state of vasculature are based mainly on imaging modalities and on the presence of pulsatile flow; therefore, under circumstances of non-pulsatile flow their use is limited and the attention is shifted also to laboratory methods, namely to detection of circulating indicators of vascular damage. Therefore, in our recent studies of the effect of mechanical ventricular assist devices on the blood flow we exploit combination of imaging and laboratory methods, including measurements of circulating microparticles and endothelial progenitor cells. Based on these studies interesting data were obtained studying the effect of implantation of mechanical cardiac support on the dynamics of vascular changes taking into account also response to changes of blood flow characteristics. In this paper we summarize our observations.Key words: continuous flow - endothelial progenitor cells - mechanical circulatory support - microparticles - vascular damage.