Computationally Sizing a Left Ventricular Assist Device Graft: A Pre-Procedural Tool to Improve Surgical Outcomes

Implanting Left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) can be life saving therapies that improve life expectancy for the patients that receive it. The target patient population suffer from end-stage heart failure and are therefore susceptible to morbidities arising from a less than ideal surgical implantation. Importantly, the graft that carries the blood from the LVAD pump to the aorta needs to be sized accordingly so as to not cause any compounding complications. The current typical surgical method, is to perform a visual estimation at the time of implantation. This present study proposes a computational tool that utilizes pre-procedural imaging to better calculate the personalized, ideal, LVAD graft length.