Review article
Echocardiographic Evaluation of Patients with Heart Mate II Continuous Flow Ventricular Assist Device
Lech Paluszkiewicz
; Heart and Cardiovascular Centre Nordrhein-Westwalen, Essen, Germany
Abstract
Echocardiography plays an important role in evaluating patients both before and after the implantation of mechanical circulatory support devices. It consists of a standard examination expanded to specific aspects of ventricular assist devices. The scope of examination varies according to the type of the device, the method of implantation and the localization of the inflow and outflow cannulas. This article is focused on the echocardiographic examination of patients undergoing the implantation of the HeartMate II (Thoratec) – a continuous-flow ventricular assist device. It provides a review of all the important parts of the examination, including the preoperative, the intraoperative and the postoperative examination. The utilization of transthoracic and transesophageal echocardiography is presented. The methods of diagnosing the malfunction of the device are also discussed. The author emphasizes that the assessment of a patient with a mechanical assist device is a complex and an interdisciplinary challenge, where echocardiography is crucial in the assessment of the patients with mechanical circulatory support devices.
Keywords
echocardiography; ventricular assist device
Hrčak ID:
66346
URI
Publication date:
11.3.2011.
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