Bridge from central extracorporeal life support is a risk factor of cerebrovascular accidents after durable left ventricular assist device implantation

A bridging strategy from extracorporeal life support (ECLS) is effective in salvage and a bridge to recovery or to a durable left ventricular assist device (LVAD) for acute refractory heart failure. However, the correlation of this strategy with adverse events after durable LVAD implantation has not been fully investigated. This study enrolled 158 consecutive patients who had either the HeartMate II or HeartMate 3 and were implanted for bridge-to-transplantation. These devices were implanted as the primary mechanical support device in 115 patients, whereas the remaining 43 underwent LVAD implantation as the bridge from central ECLS. The primary study endpoint was all-cause mortality and cerebrovascular accidents (CVAs) after durable LVAD implantation, and the secondary endpoints were adverse events. Overall survival was not significantly different between the two groups. In contrast, the probability of CVAs was significantly greater in the bridge group than in the primary group (probability of CVAs, P = 0.002; log-rank test). In Cox multivariate logistic regression analysis, a bridge from central ECLS was an independent predictive factor of CVAs (hazard ratio 4.27, 95% confidence interval 1.43–12.8; P = 0.0095). Patients who are bridged from central ECLS are more frequently complicated by CVAs compared with those who undergo primary implantation of a durable LVAD, but survival is not significantly different between the two groups. A bridge from central ECLS is an independent predictive factor of CVAs post-implantation of an LVAD.