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Published on: July 18, 2014
Emergency Splicing of Transected Ventricular Assist Device Driveline
Luke A Ziegler1, Sheelagh Pousatis2, David J Kaczorowski2
1Division of Cardiac Surgery, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland; Procirca Mechanical Circulatory Support, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Abstract:
Left ventricular assist device (LVAD) driveline transection is an often fatal complication traditionally treated with salvage surgery. We present the case of a 70-year-old man who presented in cardiogenic shock after accidentally transecting his LVAD driveline. The driveline was emergently dissected at the bedside, all 6 internal wires were spliced, and his LVAD was restarted without morbidity. He subsequently underwent formal durable driveline splice by the device manufacturer 8 hours later and was discharged home uneventfully 28 hours after presentation. In this report we describe our novel, rapid, reproducible method for emergency HeartWare HVAD (Medtronic, Framingham, MA) driveline splicing, offering an alternative to surgical device exchange.
