Does successful bridging with the implantable left ventricular assist device affect cardiac transplantation outcome?
Left ventricular assist device support intensified the donor shortage by including recipients who otherwise would not have survived to transplantation. Bridging affected transplant demographics, favoring patients who are larger, have ischemic cardiomyopathy, have had multiple blood transfusions and complex cardiac operations, and are HLA sensitized. Successfully bridged patients wait longer for a transplant than do UNOS status I patients without such a bridge, but they have similar posttransplantation hospital stay, operative mortality, and survival to those of patients not requiring left ventricular assist device support.
TLR crosstalk can enhance the pro-inflammatory monocytes response to products of microbial translocation and might play an important role in the modulation of immune function in HIV-1 infection.