National Trends and Outcomes of Patients Bridged to Transplant With Continuous Flow Left Ventricular Assist Devices

Continuous flow left ventricular assist devices (CF-LVAD) are widely used as a bridge to transplantation (BTT) among patients with advanced heart failure. The primary outcome of the current study was to study the incidence of waitlist mortality and morbidity of CF-LVAD patients bridged to heart transplantation in the current BTT era and to determine the factors that increased their risk of delisting.

Patients who were bridged to heart transplant with a CF-LVAD between April 2008 and September 2015 were identified from the United Network for Organ Sharing heart transplant registry. They were then categorized based on the development of complications. Cox proportional hazards and Kaplan-Meier survival curves were used for time-to-event analysis for the primary outcome.

Out of 7070 patients who were bridged to heart transplant, 2510 (36%) developed device-related complications. The primary outcome was present in 1631 of 7070 patients (23%). Independent predictors of primary outcome were age, ABO blood group, etiology of cardiomyopathy, and history of diabetes mellitus. Developing one device-related complication was associated with a hazard ratio (HR) of 2.59 of having the primary outcome. The HR increased to 3.45 when ≥2 of the defined complications occurred. In patients who developed the primary outcome, they most likely had a device infection (odds ratio 2.51).

Findings from the current study add to the existing literature about the incidence of morbidity and mortality in the current BTT era. Development of one device-related complication increases the risk of death or delisting among patients on the heart transplant waitlist; however, this risk almost doubles when 2 or more complications occur.