Approach to Unresponsive Patient with LVAD

Unresponsive patient with left ventricular assist device (LVAD) is always a challenge. While LVAD by itself is a relatively novel technology, mere presence of which often puzzles providers not dealing with it on a daily basis, unresponsiveness in such patient adds another level of complexity. Two papers recently published in the Journal (1, 2) describe the course of the events in several patients with LVAD who coded, only one of which was discharged from the hospital alive (1).