A real-life experience with HeartMate III

The HeartMate III (HM3) left ventricular assist device (LVAD) is the most recent LVAD to receive CE Mark and the Food and Drug Administration approval. It is a fully magnetically levitated pump with no reported haemolysis, pump thrombosis or pump failure in the first in-man study (a previous stody). It has now received market approval in the European Union, United States of America, and Australia. We reviewed our real-life experience with the device, to assess outcomes over the medium term.

We conducted a retrospective review of prospectively collected data for 33 consecutive patients implanted with a HM3 LVAD between November 2014 and October 2018 at The Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, Australia.

Of the 33 patients, 31 remained alive at the census date, with only two early deaths and 11 patients transplanted. There were no pump thromboses, but there were three cases of clot ingestion (two on the right and one on the left). Seven patients required permanent biventricular assist device support. The duration of HM3 support at the time of census was a median of 196 (interquartile range, 118-386) days.

This series demonstrates excellent results of the HM3 LVAD in an uncensored, real-life, consecutive group of patients in a single institution.