Infections associated with ventricular assist devices: epidemiology and effect on prognosis after transplantation

Abstract

VAD use as a bridge to cardiac transplantation is associated with a large number of device-related infections. Patients with infected VADs, on average, wait longer for transplantation than patients with uninfected VADs, and patients with VAD endocarditis have a shorter survival than patients with no VAD infection or simple driveline infection.