Heart failure & cardiomyopathies

Ventricular arrhythmias following left ventricular assist device implantation: a systematic review and meta-analysis of incidence and clinical impact

EuropacePublished Systematic review and meta-analysis

Authors' conclusion

Ventricular arrhythmias are frequent following LVAD implantation and are associated with a significant impact on all-cause mortality-particularly when occurring early after implantation.

Study context

Population
Patients after left ventricular assist device (LVAD) implantation
Participants
22,181 patients40 studies
Outcome
Overall incidence of VAs
Methodological detailsPubMed/Embase/Cochrane searched from inception to 1 April 2025
  • PubMed/Embase/Cochrane searched from inception to 1 April 2025

Pooled result

As reported in the abstract

Overall incidence of post-LVAD VAs

Overall incidence of post-LVAD ventricular arrhythmias (VAs) (events per 100 person-months)

2.43

1.70–3.48

Further pooled results

All-cause mortality with VA occurrence

IRR (CI)
Ventricular arrhythmia occurrenceAll-cause mortality1.32 (1.11–1.57)

Early VAs (≤30 days): incidence and mortality

IRR (CI)
Early VAsMortality1.40 (1.18–1.67)

Late VAs (>30 days): incidence and mortality

IRR (CI)
Late VAsMortality; not significant0.85 (0.66–1.10)

Electrical storm: incidence and all-cause mortality

IRR (CI)
Electrical stormAll-cause mortality1.34 (1.01–1.79)
Early VAs (≤30 days): incidence and mortality — Incidence of early VAs, events per 100 person-days
0.65 (0.48-0.88)
Early VAs (≤30 days): incidence and mortality — Events per 100 patients over 30 days
19.5
Late VAs (>30 days): incidence and mortality — Incidence of late VAs, events per 100 person-months
2.05 (1.43-2.93)
Electrical storm: incidence and all-cause mortality — electrical storm (ES) incidence, events per 100 person-months
0.44 (0.07-2.71)

Original publication

Ventricular arrhythmias following left ventricular assist device implantation: a systematic review and meta-analysis of incidence and clinical impact. Europace. Published 25 June 2025. doi:10.1093/europace/euaf129

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