Blood Damage in Ventricular Assist Devices

Advancements in both the design of mechanical circulatory support (MCS) and medical care for recipients have led to steady improvements in patient survival over the last decades. Indeed, current generations of ventricular assist devices (VADs), for example, provide important therapeutic alternatives for individuals with heart failure that may be ineligible for heart transplant. Nevertheless, it is clear that freedom from adverse events (including premature death) is experienced by an unacceptably low proportion of MCS recipients, as evidenced by recent INTERMACS reports.1 The primary complications observed post surgery remain neurological disorders (e.g. stroke), multi-system organ failure and infection. While infection remains an ongoing area of interest with important advancement, it is currently being explored whether a common aetiology may explain the high rate of organ failure (including the brain).