Derryberry Stephen L, Williams Renaldo D, Fredi Joseph L, Ball Stephen K
Cardiac Surgery Department, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA.
Interventional Cardiology Department, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN 37232, USA.
Interact Cardiovasc Thorac Surg. 2017 Aug 1;25(2):329-330. doi: 10.1093/icvts/ivx085.
Severe aortic insufficiency following continuous flow left ventricular assist device (LVAD) placement requires intervention. Conventional corrective approaches are varied and morbid. Increasingly, percutaneous solutions, such as transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), have been used to rescue these patients. The unique flow characteristics in the aortic root following LVAD implantation may have unintended consequences to the TAVR leaflets. We describe the premature fusion of TAVR leaflets following 159 days of LVAD support. TAVR should be used with some caution in patients with continuous flow LVADs.
