Background: Total artificial heart (TAH) device is sometimes necessary to treat end stage heart failure (HF). After surgery, renal impairment can occur with the need of renal replacement therapy.
Method: We report the case of a 51-year-old man who was treated with conventional hemodialysis (HD) while on support with TAH.
Results: The patient underwent HD while on TAH support during 14 months. He benefited from conventional HD, 6 sessions per week. HD sessions were well tolerated, and patient's condition and quality of life improved significantly. The main difficulty was to maintain red blood cell level because of chronic hemolysis due to TAH, which required repetitive blood transfusions, resulting in a high rate of human leukocyte antigen sensitization. Unfortunately, the patient died of mesenteric ischemia due to anticoagulation under dosing.
Conclusion: We conclude that HD treatment is possible despite TAH and should be considered in patients with both end stage renal and HF.
© 2016 S. Karger AG, Basel.