title: Outcome of patients with ventricular assist devices and acute renal failure requiring renal replacement therapy.
abstract: The significance of acute renal failure (ARF) for patients treated with a ventricular assist device (VAD) is uncertain. There is little information on the outcome of patients who require renal replacement therapy during treatment with a VAD. A retrospective review was undertaken to evaluate the impact of renal failure requiring renal replacement therapy on such patients. Studied were 227 patients who were supplied with a VAD at the German Heart Institute Berlin. Fifty-five patients required renal replacement therapy during treatment with a VAD. These were compared with patients not needing renal replacement therapy (ARF and non-ARF groups). Significant differences for the end points of survival, heart transplantation, and discharge from hospital were observed in patients with ARF (p < 0.01). Survival was then analyzed according to indications for treatment with a VAD (bridge to transplantation or cardiac recovery after cardiotomy, transplantation, myocardial infarction, myocarditis, and endocarditis). Survival for bridge-to-transplantation patients was clearly influenced in a negative way by ARF (p < 0.01). For cardiac recovery patients, only a small difference in survival was observed (p = 0.05). We conclude that ARF is a negative predictor for bridge-to-transplantation patients. For cardiac recovery patients the impact of ARF on survival is marginally significant.
authors.affiliation: Krankenhaus Reinickendorf, Innere Medizin III, Nephrology and Hypertension, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kaltenmaier
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Pommer
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Kaufmann
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hennig
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Molzahn
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hetzer
mesh_terms: D058186:Acute Kidney Injury / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery / Q000628:therapy*; D016027:Heart Transplantation; D006353:Heart-Assist Devices; D006440:Hemofiltration; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011183:Postoperative Complications; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016019:Survival Analysis; D016896:Treatment Outcome