Sharven Taghavi1, Senthil N Jayarajan2, Eugene Komaroff3, Abeel A Mangi4. 1. Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri. 2. Department of Surgery, Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri. 3. Department of Public Health, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 4. Section of Cardiac Surgery, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut. Electronic address: Abeel.Mangi@yale.edu.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: To our knowledge, how the need for a right ventricular assist device (RVAD) with a left ventricular assist device (LVAD) affects outcomes after orthotopic heart transplantation has not been studied in a multi-institutional database. METHODS: The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) database was queried for all adult orthotopic heart transplantations from the period 2005-2012. Patients requiring a RVAD + LVAD as a bridge to transplant were compared with patients requiring a LVAD only and patients requiring no ventricular assist device (VAD). RESULTS: During the study period, 16,955 orthotopic heart transplantations were performed. Of these, 13,209 (77.9%) patients did not require a VAD, 3,270 (19.3%) required a LVAD only, and 457 (2.7%) required a RVAD + LVAD. The RVAD + LVAD group had the longest length of stay (25.7 days) compared with the no VAD group (20.8 days) and the LVAD-only group (21.1 days) (p < 0.001). On multivariate analysis, requirement of a RVAD + LVAD before transplantation was independently associated with post-transplant mortality (hazard ratio 1.22, 95% confidence interval 1.01-1.49, p = 0.04). Other variables associated with mortality included donor age, pulsatile flow LVAD as a bridge to transplant, prolonged ischemic time, worsening renal function, black race, history of diabetes in recipient, class II panel-reactive antibody >10%, sex mismatch, and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation or mechanical ventilation as a bridge to transplant. CONCLUSIONS: The requirement of a RVAD in addition to a LVAD before orthotopic heart transplantation is associated with worse post-transplant outcomes and increased mortality.
BACKGROUND: To our knowledge, how the need for a right ventricular assist device (RVAD) with a left ventricular assist device (LVAD) affects outcomes after orthotopic heart transplantation has not been studied in a multi-institutional database. METHODS: The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) database was queried for all adult orthotopic heart transplantations from the period 2005-2012. Patients requiring a RVAD + LVAD as a bridge to transplant were compared with patients requiring a LVAD only and patients requiring no ventricular assist device (VAD). RESULTS: During the study period, 16,955 orthotopic heart transplantations were performed. Of these, 13,209 (77.9%) patients did not require a VAD, 3,270 (19.3%) required a LVAD only, and 457 (2.7%) required a RVAD + LVAD. The RVAD + LVAD group had the longest length of stay (25.7 days) compared with the no VAD group (20.8 days) and the LVAD-only group (21.1 days) (p < 0.001). On multivariate analysis, requirement of a RVAD + LVAD before transplantation was independently associated with post-transplant mortality (hazard ratio 1.22, 95% confidence interval 1.01-1.49, p = 0.04). Other variables associated with mortality included donor age, pulsatile flow LVAD as a bridge to transplant, prolonged ischemic time, worsening renal function, black race, history of diabetes in recipient, class II panel-reactive antibody >10%, sex mismatch, and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation or mechanical ventilation as a bridge to transplant. CONCLUSIONS: The requirement of a RVAD in addition to a LVAD before orthotopic heart transplantation is associated with worse post-transplant outcomes and increased mortality.