Medical News Today -- A surgical team from the University of Central Florida College of Medicine and Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children, Orlando, has presented findings from the first study to demonstrate that the way a ventricular assist device (VAD) is implanted can have an impact on whether or not a patient may have a stroke while the device is in use. Specifically, the surgeons reported that they can adjust the way they implant a VAD to align with a patient’s thoracic anatomy and as a result, modify blood flow patterns so that blood clots don’t travel to the brain and possibly cause a stroke while the VAD is in use. This landmark study on stroke prevention in heart failure patients was reported at the 2010 Annual Clinical Congress of the American College of Surgeons.
