Congestive heart failure left ventricular assist devices
Resident Survival Guide |
Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]
Overview
Left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) are temporary implantable cardiac devices to sustain a patient (i.e. "bridge" the patient) until cardiac transplantation can be performed. The use of LVADs as a "destination" device (the final treatment) rather than as a bridge is investigational at present.