Garatti Andrea, Giuseppe Bruschi, Russo Claudio Francesco, Marco Ordanini, Ettore Vitali
Department of Cardiac Surgery A. DeGasperis, Niguarda Ca' Granda Hospital, Milan, Italy.
J Heart Lung Transplant. 2007 Sep;26(9):956-9. doi: 10.1016/j.healun.2007.06.007.
Infection remains one of the most common causes of mortality during left ventricular assist device (LVAD) support, and poses major challenges to surgeons implanting these devices. We describe the case of a patient supported with an axial-flow pump for dilative cardiomyopathy, who experienced drive-line exit-site infection and was treated with extensive surgical debridement and reconstruction by applying vacuum-assisted therapy. He remained infection-free after wound healing and, after 7 months of mechanical support, had native heart function recovery and underwent LVAD removal.
