A Case Report About Cardiac Arrest After Left Ventricular Assist Device Explantation

Edisson Nemer; Rami Rassam; Ann Hallberg Kristensen; Tonje Thorvaldsen; Magnus Dalén; Emil Najjar

doi:10.1097/MAT.0000000000002304

A Case Report About Cardiac Arrest After Left Ventricular Assist Device Explantation

ASAIO J. 2024 Sep 11. doi: 10.1097/MAT.0000000000002304. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Edisson Nemer¹, Rami Rassam², Ann Hallberg Kristensen³, Tonje Thorvaldsen³, Magnus Dalén^{4

5}, Emil Najjar^{1

3}

Affiliations

¹ From the Department of Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
² School of Medicine, RCSI: University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Dublin, Ireland.
³ Heart and Vascular Theme, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.
⁴ Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.
⁵ Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.

PMID: 39255347
DOI: 10.1097/MAT.0000000000002304

Abstract

Hemodynamic unloading by left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) in patients with advanced heart failure can result in reverse remodeling and cardiac recovery allowing pump removal. Ventriculoplasty during explantation may cause fibrosis and ventricular scars which can provide a substrate for reentry, a common cause of ventricular arrythmias. In this case report, we describe the clinical course of a patient who suffered a cardiac arrest in the following few months after undergoing LVAD explantation because of cardiac recovery. This case highlights a potential risk related to complete LVAD explantation with ventriculoplasty and patch repair of the apex.