Middle East Heart Congress

Aspects of evaluating a patient with an LVAD include assessing recent device parameters and alarms and for common and/ or serious complications such as infection, heart failure, LVAD thrombosis, and gastrointestinal bleeding. Th e fi gure also displays the impact of continuous-fl ow LVAD speed on blood fl ow pulsatility. As LVAD speeds increase, more blood fl ows though the LVAD instead of being ejected through the aortic valve. Th erefore, at higher pump speeds, there is a lower pulse pressure. Lower pulsatility has an impact on the assessment of pulse and blood pressure on physical examination. See Online Figures 1 to 5 for brand-specifi c images of device components. GI = gastrointestinal; HF = heart failure; HVAD = HeartWare ventricular assist device; LVAD = left ventricular assist device; RPM = revolutions per minute.