Acquired von Willebrand disease during CentriMag support is associated with high prevalence of bleeding during support and after transition to heart replacement therapy

The Levitronix CentriMag is a magnetically levitated centrifugal-flow pump that can be implanted rapidly in the operating room for both right and left ventricular support. Recently, continuous-flow pumps have been associated with excessive bleeding, which can be at least partially explained by acquired von Willebrand disease (vWD). We investigated whether acquired vWD occurs during CentriMag support and determined the frequency of bleeding complications during device support as well as after transition to long-term support. We found that acquired vWD is common early post CentriMag implantation and is associated with frequent bleeding events and high requirement of blood products.