Temporal Differences in Causes of Mortality After Left Ventricular Assist Device Implantation

The authors retrospectively analyzed the causes of death and their temporal relationship to surgery for close to 500 patients undergoing LVAD implantation at their institutions.  The most common causes by time period were as follows:  (1) early→cardiac (62%) and neurologic (21%); (2) between hospital dismissal and 6 months→neurologic (31%), cardiac (17%), and device-related (11%); (3) between 6 months and 1 year→neurologic (43%) and cardiac (22%); and (4) later than 1 year→neurologic (35%), cardiac (20%), and infection (15%). Identifying the predominant causes during each time interval may allow better honing of strategies to further improve outcomes.