Eradication of Ventricular Assist Device Driveline Infection in Paediatric Patients with Taurolidine

Ventricular assist devices (VADs) are used to provide mechanical circulatory support to patients with end-stage heart failure. The driveline connecting the external power source to the pump(s) of the intra-corporal VAD breaches the protective skin barrier and provides a track for microbes to invade...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of cardiovascular development and disease Vol. 9; no. 1; p. 18
Main Authors Weichsel, Johannes, Baldauf, Benito, Bonnemeier, Hendrik, Lau, Ernest W, Dittrich, Sven, Cesnjevar, Robert
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Switzerland MDPI AG 01.01.2022
MDPI
Subjects
Antimicrobial agents
Cardiomyopathy
Case Report
driveline
Editing
Heart failure
infection
left ventricular assist device
Lung transplants
Medical equipment
Nosocomial infections
Patients
Pediatrics
Skin
Sutures
taurolidine
Writing
United States > US
Germany
taurolidine
infection
driveline
left ventricular assist device
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Summary:Ventricular assist devices (VADs) are used to provide mechanical circulatory support to patients with end-stage heart failure. The driveline connecting the external power source to the pump(s) of the intra-corporal VAD breaches the protective skin barrier and provides a track for microbes to invade the interior of the patient's body. Driveline infection constitutes a major and potentially fatal vulnerability of VAD therapy. Driveline infection cannot traditionally be salvaged and requires the extraction of the entire VAD system. We report here the successful eradication of a VAD driveline infection with a taurolidine-containing antimicrobial solution used for preventing the infection of cardiac implantable electronic devices. If replicated in more cases, the novel treatment concept described here may provide a valuable alternative management strategy of salvage rather than explantation for VAD driveline infection.
ISSN:2308-3425
2308-3425
DOI:10.3390/jcdd9010018