Dealing with surgical left ventricular assist device complications

Left ventricular assist devices (LVAD) will undoubtedly have an increasing role due to the aging population, anticipated concomitant increase in the prevalence of end-stage heart failure, and improvements in LVAD technology and outcomes. As with any surgical procedure, LVAD implantation is associated with an adverse event profile. Such complications of LVAD therapy include bleeding, infection, pump thrombosis, right heart failure, device malfunction, and stroke. Although each has a unique management, early recognition and diagnosis of these complications is uniformly paramount. In this review, we provide an overview of managing surgical complications of LVADs.