Monitoring pulmonary pressures during long‐term continuous‐flow left ventricular assist device and fixed pulmonary hypertension: redefining alleged pathophysiological mechanisms?

Abstract

Abstract Pulmonary hypertension (PH) type II (classified by the World Health Organization) is a common complication in chronic left‐sided heart failure. In advanced heart failure therapy, fixed PH is an absolute contraindication for heart transplantation after which a left ventricular assist device (LVAD) is the only remaining option. With remote monitoring, we can now continuously evaluate the pulmonary artery pressures during long‐term LV unloading by the LVAD. In this case, we demonstrate that fixed PH can be reversed with LVAD implantation, whereby previous thoughts of this concept should be redefined in the era of assist devices.

Keywords

• Heart failure
• Pulmonary hypertension
• CardioMEMS
• LVAD
• HeartMate 3