Case Report of a Heartmate II Outflow Graft Obstruction by Extrinsic Compression

Author Info

Alexandre Sebestyen Aude Boignard Mathieu Rodière Paolo Porcu Géraldine Dessertaine Damien Bedague Olivier Chavanon

Corresponding Author

Alexandre Sebestyen
Cardiac Surgery Department, University Hospital of Grenoble-Alpes, La Tronche, France

A B S T R A C T

Left ventricular assist devices take an important place in the armamentarium of end-stage heart failure therapy. Outflow graft obstruction by extrinsic compression is a rare but possibly life-threatening complication of these types of devices. Pathophysiology is not completely elucidated but seems to be related to the common design of these devices, because of a porous Dacron graft surrounded within an impervious Teflon bend relief. In the absence of pump thrombosis, the pump replacement is not necessarily indicated, and only removal of the obstruction may be sufficient. Both surgical and interventional procedures are described. We reported a case successfully treated by angioplasty-stenting. We discussed the diagnosis, the pathophysiology, and the treatment of this specific complication of left ventricular assist devices. Finally, we open the discussion to the prevention of this complication.

Article Info

Article Type

Case Report and Review of the Literature

Publication history

Received: Sat 08, Oct 2022
Accepted: Mon 31, Oct 2022
Published: Wed 30, Nov 2022

Copyright

© 2023 Alexandre Sebestyen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Hosting by Science Repository.
DOI: 10.31487/j.SCR.2022.11.04