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Ann Thorac Surg 2007;84:520-521
© 2007 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons

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Original Articles: Cardiovascular

Invited commentary

Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, University of Ottawa Heart Institute, 40 Ruskin St, Room H3404B, Ottawa, ON, Canada K1Y 4W7

(Email: phendry@ottawaheart.ca).

The first 20% of the full text of this article appears below.

Infection has been an ongoing major concern in patients supported by implantable ventricular assist devices (VADs). Numerous reports have been published during the last 3 decades documenting infection rates that may include septicemias and nondevice-related infections, as well as more surgically specific infections, including local wound, drive-line, and pocket infections. In most studies describing the general experiences with VADs, it is often difficult to tease out the importance of drive-line infections. The article by Zierer and colleagues [1] from Washington University focuses on late onset drive-line infections that are relatively prevalent in the long-term device patients and very difficult to treat.

Although efforts are made to optimize surgical technique for . . . [Full Text of this Article]