Right atrial versus right ventricular HeartWare HVAD position in patients on biventricular HeartWare HVAD support: A systematic review

In patients with biventricular heart failure or refractory right heart failure following HeartWare HVAD placement, off-label placement of a right-sided HeartWare HVAD has been described both in the right ventricular (RV) and right atrial (RA) positions. We sought to evaluate and compare the outcomes of right-sided HeartWare HVAD using the RA versus RV approach. An electronic search was performed in the English literature to identify all reports of left- and right-heart support with HeartWare HVAD. Of the 1,288 articles identified, 13 articles with 56 cases met inclusion criteria. Patient-level data were extracted and analyzed. The median patient age was 52 years (IQR 33.0-59.0) and 40/50 (80.0%) were male. Overall, 21/56 patients (37.5%) had RA HVAD, while 35/56 (62.5%) had RV HVAD. Most underwent concomitant HVAD placement [RA: 17/21 (81.0%) vs. RV: 31/35 (88.6%), P =.69]. In those who did not, the median time between left and right HVAD was 10 days (IQR 7-14) for RA HVAD and 12 days (IQR 8-30) for RV HVAD (P =.77). The median time of support was 351 days (IQR 136-626) for RA HVAD compared to 135 days (IQR 61-244) for RV HVAD (P =.02). Pump thrombosis occurred at a similar rate [RA: 3/10 (30.0%) vs. RV: 6/20 (30.0%), P = 1], as did GI bleeding [RA: 10/35 (28.6%) vs. RV: 5/21 (23.8%), P =.94] during the follow-up time period. Kaplan-Meier analysis when censored for transplant showed higher survival with RA HVAD compared to RV HVAD (P =.036), with an estimated survival at 1 year of 91.7% (95% CI 77.3-100.0) in RA HVAD versus 66.2% (95% CI 48.9-89.6) for RV HVAD. RA HVAD appears to be a viable option for durable right-sided support with outcomes at least comparable to RV HVAD.