Managing LVAD Emergencies with Dr. Marianne Wallis

In this Frontline Weekend Playlist episode, hear Dr. Marianne Wallis, Assistant Professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, present on LVAD emergencies from the Fourth Annual Leadership Symposium & EM: High Risk – Do Not Miss Conference in Beaver Creek, Colorado. Using a case-based approach, she covers how LVADs work, how to read the controller and alarms, and how to recognize and manage the most common emergencies — pump thrombus, suction events, arrhythmias, infection, and bleeding. The throughline: these patients can largely be managed like any other, with key exceptions — defibrillation and cardioversion are safe, and chest compressions are reserved for cases where the device itself is failing.