Long-term evaluation of a fully magnetically levitated circulatory support device for advanced heart failure—two-year results from the HeartMate 3 CE Mark Study

Abstract

Aim: This study aimed to assess safety and outcomes of patients, 2 years after implantation with the HeartMate 3 Left Ventricular Assist System. Methods and results: This study included 50 adults with New York Heart Association (NYHA) class IIIB or IV symptoms or American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association stage D heart failure with an ejection fraction ≤25% and a cardiac index ≤2.2 L/min/m 2 without inotropes, or inotrope-dependent with optimal medical management, or listed for heart transplant. The median duration of left ventricular assist device support was 694 days (range: 19–833 days). At baseline, cardiac index was 1.8 ±0.5 L/min/m 2 , 58% of patients were receiving inotropes, and 92% were INTERMACS profiles 2–4. At 2 years, Kaplan–Meier survival was 74 ±6%, 5 (10%) patients were transplanted, and 32 patients (64%) remain with support. Adverse event rates include bleeding requiring surgery (16%), gastrointestinal bleeding (20%), driveline infection (24%), ischaemic stroke (16%), haemorrhagic stroke (8%), right heart failure (14%), and outflow graft thrombosis (2%). Notably, no haemolysis, pump thrombosis, or pump malfunction events occurred. At 2 years, 47% of patients remained in NYHA class I and 41% in NYHA class II (P <0.0001). From baseline to 2 years, the mean six-minute walk distance increased from 239 m to 347 m (P <0.0001), and the mean EQ-5D quality of life score improved from 48.2 to 70.6 (P < 0.0001). Conclusions: Two years post-HeartMate 3 implantation, results show expected and acceptable survival, enhanced haemocompatibility, improved patient functional status and quality of life. This corroborates the success of HeartMate 3 since its first-in-man implantation case in Germany. ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT02170363.