title: Echocardiography and Continuous-Flow Left Ventricular Assist Devices: Evidence and Limitations.
abstract: Echocardiography is the most used imaging modality in the growing population of patients with advanced heart failure undergoing continuous-flow, durable mechanical circulatory support. However, no guidelines for the use of echocardiography in this population exist, evidence for core applications is limited and conflicting, and newer centrifugal-flow devices have been subject to minimal study. As a first step toward addressing these deficits, this review summarizes the evidence and expert opinion for the use of echocardiography in pre-operative planning and perioperative management, prediction of post-operative right ventricular failure, the use of echocardiographic surrogates for invasive hemodynamic measurements, and the performance of speed ramp studies for the diagnosis of thrombosis and optimization of device settings.
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois.
authors.forename: David G
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Cohen
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois.
authors.forename: James D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois.
authors.forename: Benjamin H
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Freed
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois.
authors.forename: Jonathan D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Rich
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois. Electronic address: asauer@nmff.org.
authors.forename: Andrew J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Sauer
mesh_terms: D004452:Echocardiography; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000628:therapy*; D006353:Heart-Assist Devices; D006801:Humans; D011300:Preoperative Care / Q000379:methods*; D018487:Ventricular Dysfunction, Left / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000628:therapy*
keywords: echocardiography; heart failure; left ventricular assist devices; mechanical circulatory support