Does Cardiac Catheterization Facilitate Hemodynamic Optimization of Pediatric Patients on Continuous-Flow Ventricular Assist Devices?

Understanding optimal ventricular assist device (VAD) parameters for pediatric patients is valuable given the inherent issue of patient-device size mismatch and heterogeneous cardiac anatomy in children. We evaluated our center's experience of continuous-flow VAD (CF-VAD) optimization using cardiac catheterization. We performed a retrospective analysis of all patients on CF-VAD support who underwent hemodynamic heart catheterization from 2013 to 2018.

"Compassionate" Cases of the Jarvik 2015 Ventricular Assist Device.

The Jarvik 2015 Ventricular Assist Device (VAD) (Jarvik Inc, New York, NY) is the first and currently only continuous-flow VAD specifically designed for small children, and it is being evaluated in the so-called Pump for Kids, Infants, and Neonates (PumpKIN) trial. Due to the strict inclusion criteria of the trial, there have been a group of patients who failed to meet the criteria and therefore received the Jarvik 2015 VAD under the designation of "compassionate use." This is the same phenomenon seen previously during the Berlin Heart EXCOR trial.