A Magnetically Levitated LVAD for Advanced Heart Failure: Outcomes in Practice

A postmarketing registry of patients receiving a first-time centrifugal-flow left ventricular assist device found no thrombosis events.

In MOMENTUM-3, rates of pump thrombosis were dramatically lower with the HeartMate 3 (HM3) magnetically levitated centrifugal-flow left ventricular assist device (LVAD) than with the HeartMate 2 axial-flow LVAD (NEJM JW Cardiol Apr 2018 and N Engl J Med 2018; 378:1386). The newer device is now used commercially in the U.S. and Europe. This manufacturer-sponsored, postmarketing, observational study assessed 6-month outcomes in 463 people in Europe and Kazakhstan who received the HM3 as a first-time LVAD (mean age, 56; mean left ventricular ejection fraction, 18.3%; INTERMACS profile 1–2 [i.e., highest acuity], 31%).

Implantation was bridge-to-transplant in 66% and destination therapy in 26%. Analyses also used anonymized mortality data on 58 …

Reviewing Author

Frederick A. Masoudi, MD, MSPH, FACC, FAHA

Disclosures

Consultant/Advisory BoardBristol Myers Squibb; CPC Clinical Research

Grant/Research SupportNational Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

Editorial BoardsUpToDate; American College of Cardiology Self-Assessment Program (SAP)

Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesAmerican College of Cardiology (Chair, Innovations Committee)