Relationship between thrombosis and infections in ventricular assist device patients

Abstract

We thank the editors for the opportunity to respond to the Editorial Comment by Dr. Pektok on our article on the relationship between thrombosis and infections in ventricular assist device (VAD) patients. 1 Despite advances in VAD technology, infections and thrombotic events remain potentially life-threatening complications. 2 In brief, we agree with all Dr. Pektok's comments-he highlights well the difficulties in such a large retrospective study looking at events such as infections that may not have clear starting and ending timepoints. Nevertheless, our conclusions are based on the data that we have acquired and analyzed rigorously, so are valid in the context of the limitations that are inherent in such studies. Below we detail our explanation for some of the issues raised.How to cite this article: Bouzas-Cruz N, MacGowan GA. Relationship between thrombosis and infections in ventricular assist device patients.