Since 1986, the HeartMate left ventricular assist system (LVAS) has be
en widely used as a bridge to transplantation. Recently, a multicenter
study was undertaken to evaluate the safety of allowing patients supp
orted by the vented electric (VE) LVAS to await transplantation at hom
e. Eligible patients progressed from 1 day to 3 day passes, then were
discharged from the hospital. Twenty-nine patients at four centers wer
e evaluated for incidence of adverse events and change in quality of l
ife. Mean time of support was 193.7 +/- 138 days (range, 35-504 days).
Patients spent a total of 2,922 days at home: 344 1 day passes and 15
0 3 day passes were issued; 21 patients were discharged from the hospi
tal. There were 15 readmissions to the hospital: 9 for medical reasons
and 6 for device related problems. Patients were able to resolve nume
rous technical problems at home. No deaths occurred outside of the hos
pital. Two patients returned to full-time employment, and all patients
resumed an active lifestyle. Although adverse events occurred, the re
sults of this study appear to demonstrate that patients may safely awa
it transplantation at home while supported by a HeartMate VE-LVAS.