%0 Journal Article %T A pilot study on the efficacy and safety of a minimally invasive surgical and anesthetic approach for ventricular assist device implantation %A Dario Gregori %A Demetrio Pittarello %A Gianclaudio Falasco %A Gino Gerosa %A Giulio Rizzoli %A Guido Di Gregorio %A Jonida Bejko %A Tomaso Bottio %A Vincenzo Tarzia %J The International Journal of Artificial Organs %@ 1724-6040 %D 2018 %R 10.5301/ijao.5000647 %X The aim of our study was to compare 2 surgical and anesthetic approaches during ventricular assist device implantation. 68 patients (50.4 ¡À 17.1 years old) were supported with the HeartWare£¿ HVAD (32 patients) and the Jarvik 2000 VAD (36 patients) between January 2010 and August 2016. Two surgical techniques were applied: a minimally invasive approach with the aid of paravertebral-block (mini-invasive group, 41 patients) and a standard-surgical-approach with the aid of general anesthesia (27 patients). The minimally invasive approach allowed faster postoperative recovery by significantly reducing the duration of surgery (p<0.05), anesthesia (p<0.05), mechanical ventilation (p<0.05), inotropic support (p<0.05), ICU and in-hospital stay (p<0.05), and time to first mobilization (p<0.05). No case of epidural hematoma was observed. Eleven patients died (16%) at 30 days, 3 in the mini-invasive group (7.3%) and 8 in the invasive group (29.6%). Minimally invasive approaches play a substantial role in VAD surgery by facilitating faster recovery, which is important for patients at very high risk %K General anesthesia %K LVAD %K Minimally invasive surgery %K Paravertebral block %U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.5301/ijao.5000647