Successful management of HeartMate 3 in a patient with arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy.

ABSTRACT

The management of right heart failure during durable left ventricular assist device (LVAD) support remains an unsolved issue so far. We had a 44-year-old male patient who was diagnosed with arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy and received HeartMate 3 LVAD (Abbott, USA) implantation as a bridge-to-transplant indication. The pump speed was adjusted as low as 4500 rpm to avoid the left ventricular narrowing and interventricular septal leftward shift. Riociguat was administered to decrease the afterload of the right ventricle and increase the preload of the left ventricle, in addition to the combination of neurohormonal blockers. Frequent low-flow alarm events eventually disappeared after amlodipine administration, and he was successfully returned to work. We here present a unique management in a patient with right heart failure due to arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy during HeartMate 3 LVAD support.