Heart failure & cardiomyopathies
Neurological Dysfunction During Contemporary Magnetically Levitated Left Ventricular Assist Device Support for Advanced Heart Failure: An STS-INTERMACS Analysis
Authors' conclusion
Stroke and nonstroke NAEs are incurred by a similar proportion of patients, and both are associated with substantially reduced survival. Consequently, stroke and nonstroke NAEs should be given comparable weight with universal nomenclature when evaluating the safety of durable LVADs.
Study context
- Population
- Patients with heart failure on magnetically levitated (Mag-Lev) left ventricular assist device (LVAD) supportmedian follow-up 1.4 years
- Participants
- 11,739 patients
- Exposure
- Neurological adverse events
- Stroken = 879
- Nonstroke NAEn = 972
- No NAEn = 9,888reference
- Outcome
- Survival on Mag-Lev LVAD support
- Follow-up
- 2 years
Methodological detailsmulticenter
- Multicenter
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Survival on Mag-Lev LVAD support
HR
- Stroke
- 7.3
- Nonstroke NAE
- 5.1
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
| Outcome | HR |
|---|---|
| Factors associated with death after stroke — Older age · per year | 1.02 |
| Factors associated with death after stroke — pre-LVAD implantable cardioverter-defibrillator vs No NAE | 1.32 |
| Factors associated with death after stroke — higher pre-LVAD blood urea nitrogen level · per 1 mg/dL | 1.01 |
| Factors associated with death after stroke — pre-LVAD dialysis vs No NAE | 1.91 |
| Factors associated with mortality after nonstroke NAE — higher pre-LVAD body mass index · per 1 unit | 1.02 |
| Factors associated with mortality after nonstroke NAE — pre-LVAD serum creatinine · per 1 mg/dL | 1.36 |
| Factors associated with mortality after nonstroke NAE — pre-LVAD international normalized ratio · per 1 unit | 1.14 |
| Factors associated with mortality after nonstroke NAE — lower pre-LVAD lower albumin · per 1 g/dL | 0.98 |
| Occurrence of stroke — Pre-LVAD extracorporeal membrane oxygenation vs No NAE | 1.70 |
| Occurrence of stroke — concomitant surgery vs No NAE | 1.23 |
| Occurrence of nonstroke NAE — Pre-LVAD extracorporeal membrane oxygenation vs No NAE | 1.45 |
| Occurrence of nonstroke NAE — concomitant surgery vs No NAE | 1.17 |
Survival on Mag-Lev LVAD support · 2 years
- P < 0.001
Original publication
Neurological Dysfunction During Contemporary Magnetically Levitated Left Ventricular Assist Device Support for Advanced Heart Failure: An STS-INTERMACS Analysis. JACC Heart Fail. Published 1 October 2026. doi:10.
Summarised from the published abstract; every number is checked against it