Clinical Protocol for Left Ventricular Assist Device Deactivation at End of Life

Abstract

As patients live longer with left ventricular assist device (LVAD) support, many will either suffer an acute event or develop a gradual, progressive disease that results in a terminal prognosis. At the end-of-life, patients, and more often, their families, will be faced with the decision to deactivate the LVAD to allow natural death. The process of LVAD deactivation carries some distinct features that distinguish it from withdrawal of other forms of life-sustaining medical technology: multidisciplinary collaboration is paramount; prognosis after deactivation is short, typically minutes-hours; and premedication doses of symptom-focused medications are typically higher than other situations involving withdrawal of life-sustaining medical technologies given the precipitous decline in cardiac output following LVAD deactivation. In this Case Discussion, we introduce the complexity of planned in-hospital LVAD deactivation through a clinical case, share our detailed institutional checklist and order set for LVAD deactivation, and broach multidisciplinary clinical protocol development processes.

Keywords: end-of-life; heart failure; left ventricular assist device; mechanical circulatory support; palliative care.