While the demand for heart transplantation has increased, the limited availability of hearts has remained constant. In order to bridge this gap, VADs are being used to enable patients to survive until a heart becomes available or in some cases, to extend the lives of patients who do not qualify for a heart transplant. Managing patients on chronic VAD support requires regular patient follow-up and multidisciplinary care teams. This presentation will review management strategies to reduce morbidity and mortality in heart failure patients supported chronically with VADs, and describe candidate selection, outpatient strategies to optimize device performance, complications that warrant close monitoring, heart failure management and currently available devices.

Learning Objectives
At the end of this educational activity, participants should be able to

1. Review management strategies to reduce morbidity and mortality in heart failure patients supported chronically with VADs
2. Describe candidate selection, outpatient strategies to optimize device performance and complications that warrant close monitoring
3. Provide an overview of the current ventricular assist devices available

Method of Participation
There are no fees for participating in or receiving credit for this activity.
For information on applicability and acceptance of continuing education credit for this activity, please consult your professional licensing board.

Participants will receive a certificate upon successful completion of the activity, which includes the following:

• Completing the entire activity
• Completing the Pre- and Post-Activity Assessments, Activity Evaluation, and Application for Certificate of Credit forms

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Method for Calculating CE Credit
CE credit was calculated by the complexity of content.

Faculty Listing
Mark L. Barr, MD
Associate Professor, Cardiothoracic Surgery
Co-Director, Cardiothoracic Transplantation
Associate Director, Cardiothoracic Surgical Research
University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine
Los Angeles, California

Disclosures
SM, OptumHealth Education requires all those involved in the development of activity content to disclose their relevant financial relationships. An individual has a relevant financial relationship if such person (or their spouse/partner) has a financial relationship in any amount occurring in the last 12 months with a commercial interest whose products or services are discussed in the activity content over which the individual has control.
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Provided By
This activity is provided by OptumHealth Education.

Commercial Support
There was no commercial support received for this activity.

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