Levitronix Ventricular Assist Devices as a Bridge to Recovery After Profound Biventricular Heart Failure Associated With Pulmonary Aspergillosis

Necrotizing pulmonary aspergillosis and ventricular assist device infection: case report and review of literature

“…Death occurred after a minimum of about 3 weeks and a maximum of 197 days on VAD support. Survival was so far only reported after removal of the infected device and/or with heart transplantation , which is in keeping with mortality rates of nearly 100% that were reported by several authors for Aspergillus mediastinitis, endocarditis, and aortitis after cardiac surgery . In our patient, A. fumigatus was initially cultured from the respiratory tract after more than 2 weeks of hospitalization.…”

“…Aspergillus species are seldom reported as a cause of infection in VAD recipients (Table ) . In the majority of the cases published to date, Aspergillus device infection was a post‐mortem or post‐explantation diagnosis, while ante‐mortem diagnosis was made based on Aspergillus species cultured from sputum , respiratory secretions , or thrombus in only a few patients. These data are in keeping with the findings of Pasqualotto et al.…”

“…As far as devices and implantation characteristics are concerned, our patient differs from those reported previously in that he was implanted with a new generation device, with the pump housing directly attached to the left ventricular apex and entirely accommodated within the pericardial sac. Aside from 1 patient implanted with a HeartMate II and a patient on temporary biventricular VAD support , all previous reports in contrast referred to patients implanted with earlier generation devices. A review of the literature, moreover, shows that Aspergillus device infection frequently resulted in device obstruction and that central nervous system involvement was present in a considerable share of cases .…”

Clinical Experience Using the Levitronix CentriMag System for Temporary Right Ventricular Mechanical Circulatory Support

“…[5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13] This study focused on the role the CentriMag might have in a diverse patient population with a specific indication. Primary RV failure, a problem that is often underappreciated, can occur in a variety of settings after cardiac surgery.…”

Bridge to Decision Using the Levitronix CentriMag Short-term Ventricular Assist Device

“…2 Using short-term devices such as the Levitronix CentriMag VAD in this setting provides an opportunity for stabilizing the hemodynamic state of the patients and offers a chance to further assess their clinical condition. [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10] We report our experience with the Levitronix CentriMag VAD in a cohort of extremely sick patients for whom mechanical support was used as a potential "bridge to decision" before deciding whether a more expensive device should be used or whether transplantation should be undertaken.…”