Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2017 Feb 8;4(4):000557.
doi: 10.12890/2017_000557. eCollection 2017.

Ventricular Assist Device-Related Haemolysis Presenting with Acute Pancreatitis

Sanna Fatima  1 , Yaser S Alhamshari  1 , Moiz Salahuddin  1
Affiliations

Ventricular Assist Device-Related Haemolysis Presenting with Acute Pancreatitis

Sanna Fatima et al. Eur J Case Rep Intern Med. .

Abstract

Acute pancreatitis is one of the rare complications in patients fitted with a left ventricular assist device (LVAD). We herein report a case of acute pancreatitis in a patient with LVAD triggered by intravascular haemolysis. A 44-year-old man with non-ischaemic cardiomyopathy (NICM) after VAD implantation presented with epigastric pain. Laboratory work-up showed acute pancreatitis and haemolysis. As there was concern that device thrombosis was causing haemolysis, the patient was started on unfractionated heparin infusion. The patient was discharged when haemolysis and pancreatitis had resolved. To our knowledge, VAD-associated haemolysis presenting with acute pancreatitis is infrequently described in the literature.

Learning points: Our case report highlights a rare presentation of device thrombosis presenting as haemolysis and pancreatitis in a patient fitted with a ventricular assist device (VAD).Our case report aims to educate internists to keep in mind a potentially life-threatening condition when taking care of patients with VAD.Our case report highlights haemolysis as a rare cause of acute pancreatitis.

Keywords: VAD complication; VAD thrombosis; acute pancreatitis; haemolysis.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interests: The Authors declare that there are no competing interests.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Cavallini G, Frulloni L, Bassi C, et al. Prospective multicentre survey on acute pancreatitis in Italy (ProInf-AISP): results on 1005 patients. Dig Liver Dis. 2004;36:205. - PubMed
    1. Gullo I, Migliori M, Olah A, et al. Acute pancreatitis in five European countries: etiology and mortality. Pancreas. 2002;24:223–227. - PubMed
    1. Al-Haddad M, Wallace MB. Diagnostic approach to patients with acute idiopathic pancreatitis, what should be done? World J Gastroenterol. 2008;14:1007–1010. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Yancy CW, Jessup M, Bozkurt B, et al. 2013 ACCF/AHA guideline for the management of heart failure: executive summary: a report of the American College of Cardiology Foundation/American Heart Association Task Force on practice guidelines. Circulation. 2013;128:1810. - PubMed
    1. Robertson JO, Okada S, Joseph SM, et al. Left ventricular assist device-related hemolysis and acute pancreatitis: a case series. J Heart Lung Transplant. 2013;32:846–848. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources