Background: The impact of respiratory failure on patients undergoing left ventricular assist device (LVAD) implantation is not well understood, especially since these patients were excluded from landmark clinical trials. We sought to evaluate the associations between immediate preimplant and postimplant respiratory failure on outcomes in advanced heart failure patients undergoing LVAD implantation.
Methods and results: We included all patients in the Interagency Registry for Mechanically Assisted Circulatory Support who were implanted with continuous-flow LVADs from 2008 to 2016. Of the 16 362 patients who underwent continuous-flow LVAD placement, 906 (5.5%) required preimplant intubation within 48 hours before implantation, and 1001 (6.1%) patients developed respiratory failure within 1 week after implantation. A higher proportion of patients requiring preimplant intubation were Interagency Registry for Mechanically Assisted Circulatory Support profile 1, required mechanical circulatory support, and presented with cardiac arrest or myocardial infarction (P<0.001, all). At 1 year, 54.3% of patients intubated preimplant were alive without transplant, 20.1% had been transplanted, and 24.2% died before transplant. Patients requiring preimplant intubation had higher rates of postimplant complications, including bleeding, stroke, and right ventricular assist device implantation (P<0.01 for all). Among Interagency Registry for Mechanically Assisted Circulatory Support profile 1 patients, preimplant intubation incurred additional risk of death at 1 year compared with Interagency Registry for Mechanically Assisted Circulatory Support profile 1 patients not intubated (hazard ratio, 1.37 [95% CI, 1.13-1.65]; P=0.001). After multivariable analysis, both preimplant intubation (hazard ratio, 1.20 [95% CI, 1.03-1.41]; P=0.021) and respiratory failure within 1 week (hazard ratio, 2.54 [95% CI, 2.26-2.85]; P<0.001) were associated with higher all-cause 1-year mortality.
Conclusions: Respiratory failure both before and after LVAD implantation identifies an advanced heart failure population with significantly worse 1-year mortality. This data might be helpful in counseling patients and their families about expectations about life with an LVAD.
Keywords: heart failure; heart-assist devices; mechanical ventilation; respiratory insufficiency.