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Obeid et al. Vessel Plus 2022;6:43 Vessel Plus
DOI: 10.20517/2574-1209.2021.136

Review Open Access

Atrial fibrillation in mechanical circulatory support

patients

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Joseph M. Obeid , Ashutosh Yaligar , Allison J. McLarty, Henry J. Tannous, Thomas V. Bilfinger, A. Laurie
W. Shroyer
Department of Surgery, Stony Brook Renaissance School of Medicine, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA.
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Equal contributions to first authorship.
Correspondence to: Prof. A. Laurie W. Shroyer, Department of Surgery, Stony Brook Renaissance School of Medicine, Health
Science Center 19-080, 100 Nicolls Road, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA. E-mail: AnnieLaurie.Shroyer@stonybrookmedicine.edu
How to cite this article: Obeid JM, Yaligar A, McLarty AJ, Tannous HJ, Bilfinger TV, Shroyer ALW. Atrial fibrillation in
mechanical circulatory support patients. Vessel Plus 2022;6:43. https://dx.doi.org/10.20517/2574-1209.2021.136
Received: 11 Nov 2021 First Decision: 6 Dec 2021 Revised: 20 Dec 2021 Accepted: 27 Dec 2021 Published: 27 Jul 2022

Academic Editor: Cristiano Spadaccio Copy Editor: Haixia Wang Production Editor: Haixia Wang

Abstract
Atrial fibrillation (AF) is known to be one of the most common arrhythmias noted in cardiac procedures and is
frequently associated with heart failure. As frequent interventions for patients with heart failure involve
implantation of mechanical circulatory assist devices (e.g., left ventricular assist devices), it is timely to review the
role this arrhythmia has on adverse clinical outcomes. A comprehensive literature search was conducted for
PubMed. Relevant medical subject heading (MeSH) terms used in the initial literature search include “Heart-Assist
Devices”, “Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation”, “Atrial Fibrillation”, “Heart Failure”, “Mortality”, “Hospital
Readmission”, “stroke”, “Postoperative Complications”. In this review, the relevant literature was highlighted to
identify the incidence, clinical impacts, and management of AF surrounding mechanical circulatory support
implantation. The incidence of AF in this mechanical circulatory support device population was similar to that of
patients with other cardiac procedures (10%-40%). Moreover, in most studies, preoperative AF was not
significantly associated with adverse outcomes. In contrast, however, it appears that postoperative atrial fibrillation
may predispose patients to increased risk for thromboembolic events and adverse long-term outcomes.

Keywords: Atrial fibrillation, mechanical circulatory support, left ventricular assist device, extracorporeal
membrane oxygenation, impella

© The Author(s) 2022. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
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adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, for any purpose, even commercially, as
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