Defibrillator-Heart Pump: An Implantable Ventricular Assist Device With Integrated Defibrillator Component—The First In Vitro Testing

Left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) are an important therapeutic option for patients with end-stage heart failure waiting for heart transplantation or in older patients as definite therapy for heart failure. Interestingly, about 62% of patients receiving LVADs do not have an automatic implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (AICD) at the time of implantation, although these patients have increased risk of being confronted with dangerous arrhythmia. Therefore, an LVAD system including AICD function is a reasonable alternative for such heart failure patients thereby avoiding a second surgical intervention for AICD implantation. In this article, a newly developed system including LVAD and AICD function is introduced, and we also report its first in vitro testing.