Left Ventricular Assist Device: Review of Antimicrobial Prophylaxis Strategies and Incidence of Infections at a Tertiary Care Center 12-Year Experience.

Background: Left ventricular assist devices (LVAD) have an associated infection rate of 13%-80% postimplant. An optimal strategy for surgical infection prophylaxis (SIP) at the time of implantation has not been well defined. We aimed to evaluate the different LVAD implantation antibiotic prophylaxis regimens as well as the incidence of LVAD infection at our institution.