Context (archaeology)

Intensive care medicine

Heart transplantation

Adverse effect

Biology

Cardiology

Paleontology

Heart failure

Ventricular assist device

Internal medicine

Medicine

Destination therapy

Narrative review

Circulation

Ventricular assist device has rapidly emerged as a durable and safe therapy for end-stage heart failure patients with >22 000 implantations to date. Though originally conceived for bridge-to-transplant indication, significant advancements in medical management as well as technology with arrivals of newer generation devices have improved patient outcomes, leading to increasing use as destination therapy. Despite such improvement, however, the burden of adverse events remains significant and defines the most pressing issue in the current state of ventricular assist device therapy. Eventual use of ventricular assist device technology as a comparable alternative to heart transplantation will ultimately rely on our ability to mitigate these risks. Therefore, this review article provides the narrative surrounding the rapid integration of this technology into the heart failure paradigm, specifically in the context of the most recent data on its outcomes and adverse event profiles. It describes ongoing investigations and general trends that may have significant implications for future improvements in device-related outcomes, as the field continues to grow as the epitome of synergy between advancements in engineering and clinical medicine.

Left Ventricular Assist Devices