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
. 2022 Apr 27;30(2):199-205.
doi: 10.5606/tgkdc.dergisi.2022.23414. eCollection 2022 Apr.

Outcomes of patients with left ventricular assist device infected with SARS-CoV-2

Ümit Kahraman  1 , Defne Güneş Ergi  1 , Burcu Yağmur  2 , Çağatay Engin  1 , Tahir Yağdı  1 , Sanem Nalbantgil  2 , Mustafa Özbaran  1
Affiliations

Outcomes of patients with left ventricular assist device infected with SARS-CoV-2

Ümit Kahraman et al. Turk Gogus Kalp Damar Cerrahisi Derg. .

Abstract

Background: The aim of this study was to describe clinical characteristics, course, and outcomes of the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in heart failure patients with left ventricular assist device.

Methods: Between November 2020 and August 2021, a total of 20 patients (18 males, 2 females; mean age: 57.0+10.0 years; range, 30 to 71 years) with left ventricular assist device and who were diagnosed by the COVID-19 polymerase chain reaction testing were included. For each patient, disease-related factors were evaluated including presence of hospitalization, home quarantine, presence of lung damage, antiviral medication strategy, symptomatology and complications following COVID-19.

Results: Seven patients 35% patients died in our cohort following the COVID-19. All these patients experienced variety of complications following COVID-19 including subarachnoid hemorrhage and right heart failure. Three patients were already hospitalized due to COVID-19 and decompensated progressively, resulting in death on Days 14, 4, and 7 after the initial diagnosis.

Conclusion: COVID-19 seems to be an important cause of mortality in patients with LVAD who have borderline cardiopulmonary function. Great care should be taken to avoid interruption in routine follow-ups with these patients, since they present a more sensitive population.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; left ventricular assist device; transplantation.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: The authors declared no conflicts of interest with respect to the authorship and/or publication of this article.

References

    1. Coronaviridae Study Group of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses. The species Severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus: Classifying 2019-nCoV and naming it SARS-CoV-2. Nat Microbiol. 2020;5:536–544. - PMC - PubMed
    1. World Health Organization. WHO Director-General"s opening remarks at the media briefing on COVID-19 - 11 March 2020. Available at: https://www.who.int/director-general/speeches/detail/who-director-genera... .
    1. Clerkin KJ, Fried JA, Raikhelkar J, Sayer G, Griffin JM, Masoumi A, et al. COVID-19 and cardiovascular disease. Circulation. 2020;141:1648–1655. - PubMed
    1. Ankersmit HJ, Tugulea S, Spanier T, Weinberg AD, Artrip JH, Burke EM, et al. Activation-induced T-cell death and immune dysfunction after implantation of left-ventricular assist device. Lancet. 1999;354:550–555. - PubMed
    1. Birati EY, Najjar SS, Tedford RJ, Houston BA, Shore S, Vorovich E, et al. Characteristics and outcomes of COVID- 19 in patients on left ventricular assist device support. e007957Circ Heart Fail. 2021;14 - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources