A pilot study on the efficacy and safety of a minimally invasive surgical and anesthetic approach for ventricular assist device implantation

Background: The aim of our study was to compare 2 surgical and anesthetic approaches during ventricular assist device implantation. Methods: 68 patients (50.4 ± 17.1 years old) were supported with the HeartWare® HVAD (32 patients) and the Jarvik 2000 VAD (36 patients) between January 2010 and August 2016. Two surgical techniques were applied: a minimally invasive approach with the aid of paravertebral-block (mini-invasive group, 41 patients) and a standard-surgical-approach with the aid of general anesthesia (27 patients). Results: The minimally invasive approach allowed faster postoperative recovery by significantly reducing the duration of surgery (pConclusions: Minimally invasive approaches play a substantial role in VAD surgery by facilitating faster recovery, which is important for patients at very high risk.