Endocardial Injury During Ventricular Assistance with an Intracardiac Microaxial Pump

Abstract

Abstract:We report the case of a patient unweanable from cardiopulmonary bypass who underwent transaortic implantation of an Impella Recover LD blood pump. The ventricular assistance afforded an adequate flow but the patient died 48 hours after due to severe ischemia of the lower limbs. Chronic atherosclerotic occlusion of the abdominal aorta could be observed during the necropsy study as well as a subendocardial hematoma of the left ventricular wall. Some aspects concerning the pathologic finding observed in the heart are discussed.