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In May 2022, scientists from the University of Louisville (Departments of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery, Bioengineering, Anesthesiology, and Perioperative Medicine), Veritium research LLC, and Inspired Therapeutics LLC tested the NeoMate mechanical circulatory support (MCS) system for neonates and infants. The complete manuscript by Gretel Monreal, Steven C. Koenig, Mark S. Slaughter, Gino F. Morello, Steven R. Prina, Landon H. Tompkins, Jiapeng Huang, Barry N. Gellman, and Kurt A. Dasse can be found in Plos One. Their research is summarized below.

Up to 14,000 US children are hospitalized yearly with heart failure (HF)-related conditions. These children show a mortality rate of 7-15%, while the mortality rate of those on the waiting list for a heart transplant ranges from 5-39%. Because of these statistics, temporary and durable mechanical circulatory support devices prove to be important in supporting this patient population.

The FDA has identified this as a Class I recall for The HeartWare Ventricular Assist Device (HVAD) by Medtronic, Inc., the recall is due to welding defects that allow separation of the two cell battery packs used to power the system. The welding defect may cause the battery to malfunction and no longer provide power or prevent the battery from holding a full charge or properly recharging. As a result, the battery may fail suddenly. If this malfunction occurs, it will trigger a Power Disconnect alarm on the controller screen and in the Alarm Log tab of the HVAD Monitor while the affected battery is still connected to the controller.

In March 2022, a research team from Gunma University detailed the treatment of CABG in situs inversus totalis, a rare anomaly that has been minimally reported in the literature. The complete manuscript by Atsushi Oi, Wataru Tatsuishi, Jun Mohara, Toshikuni Yamamoto, and Tomonobu Abe was published in the Journal of Cardiothoracic Surgery. The case report is detailed below.

Dextrocardia with situs inversus totalis is a congenital anomaly where the organs are mirrored in relation to their typical locations. It is a rare condition, occurring in only 1:10,000 people, and as such, it has been minimally documented.

In March 2022, practitioners from the Department of Neurosurgery at Georgetown University School of Medicine described a case study of a 63-year-old female with a preexisting LVAD who received treatment for a chronic subdural hematoma. Below we have summarized the findings from the case report, with the entire manuscript, written by Gnel Pivazyan, Mitchell B. Rock, Ehsan Dowlati, Jeffrey C. Mai, and Robert B. Mason, published in Brain Circulation.

Left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) play an essential role in those with heart failure by providing mechanical circulatory augmentation. However, a unique challenge for those with LVADs is chronic subdural hematomas (cSDH), a type of intracranial hemorrhage, which requires the patient to take continuous anticoagulation medication due to the high risk of thrombotic events.