Understanding the ventricular assist device (VAD) patient pump interface and developing expertise in monitoring patients with a VAD are the goals of care in the ambulatory setting. The objective is to improve long-term outcomes. The purpose of expert, focused, routine outpatient surveillance is to facilitate the integration of pulseless, electrically dependent VAD patients into the community. Other goals of outpatient care include maximizing quality of life, maintaining equipment integrity, treating heart failure symptoms, monitoring for common VAD-related complications, ensuring viability as a heart transplant candidate, consideration for patients implanted to become transplantable, and monitoring for possible cardiac recovery.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ccl.2018.06.014 | DOI Listing |
J Med Syst
January 2025
Department of Neurosurgery, University Medical Centre Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
This study aimed to develop and validate a cost-effective, customizable patient-specific phantom for simulating external ventricular drain placement, combining image segmentation, 3-D printing and molding techniques. Two variations of the phantom were created based on patient MRI data, integrating a realistic skin layer with anatomical landmarks, a 3-D printed skull, an agarose polysaccharide gel brain, and a ventricular cavity. To validate the phantom, 15 neurosurgeons, residents, and physician assistants performed 30 EVD placements.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAlzheimers Dement
December 2024
Dementia Research Centre, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, London, United Kingdom.
Background: Knowledge of the chemical composition of amyloid plaques and tau tangles at the earlier stages of Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathology is sparse. This is due to limited access to human brain during life and at the earlier stages of AD pathophysiology and technical limitations in quantifying amyloid and tau species at a subcellular level. Understanding the chemical composition of plaques and tangles, how rapidly they grow and what factors drive growth is important for developing and refining therapeutics.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFClin Cardiol
January 2025
Department of Research, Future Forwards Research Institute, Piscataway, New Jersey, USA.
Background: Left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) are utilized as a therapeutic option for patients with end-stage heart failure. While LVAD implantation can enhance survival rates and quality of life, the procedure has its risks, and postoperative complications are common. This review aims to investigate whether there is an association between living in a rural area and the incidence of postoperative complications or hospital readmissions following LVAD implantation, compared to urban LVAD recipients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Cardiothorac Vasc Anesth
December 2024
Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA.
Cardiogenic shock (CS) in acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is a life-threatening syndrome characterized by systemic hypoperfusion that can quickly progress to multiorgan failure and death. Various devices and configurations of mechanical circulatory support (MCS) exist to support patients, each with unique pathophysiological characteristics. The Intra-aortic balloon pump can improve coronary perfusion, decrease afterload, and indirectly augment cardiac output.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Patients undergoing evaluation for a heart transplant are frequently on inotropic medications or mechanical circulatory support (MCS) devices, which places them at a higher risk for anesthesia-related complications. These patients often require colonoscopies for bleeding or screening purposes, but there are limited data on the safety and outcomes of colonoscopy in this setting.
Methods: This is a retrospective, two-center study between the years 2015 and 2021 of patients with heart failure who subsequently underwent a heart transplant.
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