Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 1 of 1
Full-Text Articles in Medicine and Health Sciences
Fatal Flaw - Driveline Fracture As A Rare But Serious Complication Of Mechanical Circulatory Support With Left Ventricular Assist Devices, Yuri Boyechko, Thomas Tribble, Maya Guglin
Fatal Flaw - Driveline Fracture As A Rare But Serious Complication Of Mechanical Circulatory Support With Left Ventricular Assist Devices, Yuri Boyechko, Thomas Tribble, Maya Guglin
The VAD Journal
Background: Patients with advanced heart failure have seen decreased mortality and improved quality of life due to mechanical circulatory support with left ventricular assist devices (LVAD). Regardless of such outcomes, many complications still exist and remain a significant cause of morbidity and mortality. Our purpose is to study the prevalence, clinical course, and outcomes specifically of patients with LVAD driveline (DL) fractures.
Methods: This single-center, retrospective review included all patients at our institution who had continuous flow LVADs and experienced DL fracture/injury from January 2012 - December 2015.
Results: Thirteen of 110 LVAD patients (11.8%) had DL fractures (Table 1). …