Journal of Artificial Organs

, Volume 19, Issue 4, pp 330–335 | Cite as

Reversible decline in pulmonary function during left ventricular assist device therapy

Original Article Artificial Heart (Clinical)
First Online:
Received:
Accepted:

Abstract

Cardiac replacement therapy, consisting of left ventricular assist device (LVAD) implant surgery and heart transplantation, has considerably reduced the mortality and morbidity of patients with stage D heart failure. However, its impact on pulmonary function remains unclear. We retrospectively evaluated 22 consecutive patients (16 men; 42 ± 13 years old) who had undergone pulmonary function tests during the heart failure, LVAD, and heart transplantation periods. The LVAD therapy lasted an average of 871 ± 267 days. The % vital capacity and forced expiratory volume in 1 s decreased significantly after LVAD implantation and returned to baseline levels after heart transplantation. Correlation analysis indicated that a shorter duration of LVAD support was associated with a more significant improvement in % vital capacity in heart transplantation recipients, compared to the pre-LVAD period and the LVAD period. In conclusion, we provide evidence that a decrease in pulmonary function occurs during LVAD support but it may be reversible. Limited LVAD duration may be a key for the recovery of pulmonary dysfunction.

Keywords

Tidal volume Heart failure Heart transplantation 
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Notes

Acknowledgments

None.

Compliance with ethical standards

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Copyright information

© The Japanese Society for Artificial Organs 2016

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Graduate School of MedicineUniversity of TokyoTokyoJapan
  2. 2.Second Department of Internal MedicineUniversity of ToyamaToyama-shiJapan
  3. 3.Department of Cardiac Surgery, Graduate School of MedicineUniversity of TokyoTokyoJapan

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