Ventricular Assist Device Driveline Infections: A Systematic Review.

Definition In general, infections in VAD patients are classified in accordance with the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation (ISHLT) registry as VAD-specific, VAD-related, and non-VAD infections. [2][3] Infection is the most common complication following VAD implantation, [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11] and among infections, driveline exit site (DLES) infection is the most common adverse event in VAD patients. [11] Survival of VAD patients with VAD-specific infection was 87% at 1 year as compared with VAD-related (71%) and non-VAD infections (72%, I p i < 0.001) (Fig. Keywords: cardiac; circulatory assist devices; infection; heart failure; wound healing; wound infection EN cardiac circulatory assist devices infection heart failure wound healing wound infection 493 504 12 09/14/22 20220901 NES 220901 Conflict of Interest None declared. 4 Cumulative incidence of stroke after ventricular assist device (VAD) implantation according to Shah et al. [11] Note the differences in time to first stroke between three infection groups (VAD-related, VAD-specific, and non-VAD) and no infection group (reprinted with permission). [Extracted from the article]