Successful pregnancy with centrifugal flow left ventricular assist device: A case report and review of the literature

Abstract

Succesful deliveries from patients supported by axial flow left ventricular devices have been previously reported. We present the first case of a successful pregnancy and birth in a patient with a centrifugal-flow left ventricular assist device. A 24-year-old female with methamphetamine-induced cardiomyopathy and end-stage congestive heart failure supported by a HeartWareTM ventricular assist device (Medtronic) presented two years after device implantation with an unplanned pregnancy at 11-weeks of gestation. Following a multidisciplinary evaluation by experts in advanced heart failure, maternal fetal medicine, cardiothoracic surgery, anesthesia, ethics, psychiatry, and palliative care, an advanced plan of care was established. An elective induction of labor was scheduled for the 34th week of gestation. Given poor labor progression despite maximal induction efforts, the patient was transferred to a cardiothoracic operating room where she delivered a healthy baby boy via Cesarean section under close hemodynamic monitoring by advanced heart failure and cardiothoracic surgery teams. Citation: Dehkordi SHH, et al. Successful pregnancy with centrifugal flow left ventricular assist device: A case report and review of the literature. The VAD Journal. 2021; 7(1):e2021711. https://doi.org/10.11589/vad/e 2021711 Editor-in-Chief: Maya Guglin, University of Indiana Received: December 8, 2020 Accepted: December 30, 2020 Published Online: February 5, 2021 © 2021 The Author(s). This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons AttributionNonCommercial 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/lice nses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided that the original author(s) and the publication source are credited. Funding: Not applicable Competing interests: None