Twelve hours of sustained ventricular fibrillation supported by a continuous-flow left ventricular assist device.

Left ventricular assist device (LVAD) therapy improves survival and quality of life by mechanically unloading the left ventricle and maintaining hemodynamics in patients with end-stage heart failure. LVADs can also be lifesaving by maintaining hemodynamics during ventricular arrhythmia. Continuous-flow LVADs have become the preferred LVAD technology. As presented here, a continuous-flow LVAD successfully provided hemodynamic support to a patient in sustained ventricular fibrillation for over 12 hours when the internal defibrillator was unable to terminate the arrhythmia. This case demonstrates that continuous-flow LVADs can be lifesaving in the setting of otherwise certain hemodynamic collapse from sustained ventricular fibrillation. ©2012, The Authors. Journal compilation ©2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.