[Treatment Strategy for Implantable Ventricular Assist Device Infections:Is Omental Flap Useful?]

Infection of implantable ventricular assist device( iVAD) is one of the serious complications for which there is still no established treatment strategy. We evaluated the usefulness of omental flap for device infections. Five of 20 patients of iVAD underwent omental flap for device infections extending to the pump site. Two patients underwent simultaneous omental flap and iVAD exchange, and three patients underwent device sparing. All of the device-sparing cases eventually required iVAD exchange due to recurrent infection. By covering the new pump with an omental flap at the time of iVAD exchange, there were no recurrent infections in any of the cases. Isolated omental flap is difficult to cure the device infections that extend the pump site alone, and iVAD exchange should also be performed, however, it might prevent recurrence of infection on new devices.