Peripheral Artery Disease and Continuous Flow Left Ventricle Assist Device: An Engaging Complement Analysis May Help to Guide Treatment

Use of continuous flow left ventricle assist device (CF-LVAD) in advanced heart failure (HF) patients results in clinically relevant improvements in survival, functional capacity, and quality of life. Peripheral artery disease (PAD) can occur in patients with CF-LVAD due to the high rate of concomitance between risk factors for atherosclerosis and HF. Diagnosis of PAD can be difficult in the specific setting of a patient supported by this kind of device because of the marked alteration in waveform morphology and velocity created by the artificial physiology of an LVAD. We report the case of a 53-year-old man with HF secondary to ischemic cardiomyopathy supported by the HeartWare HVAD as bri…