Dabigatran as an Alternative Anticoagulant in Patients With Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD)

Patients with severe heart failure supported by left ventricular assist device (LVAD) require adequate long-term anticoagulant therapy. New oral anticoagulants such as the direct thrombin inhibitor dabigatran may represent an alternative to Coumarin for long-term anticoagulation. In this pilot single-center study, thirty LVAD patients with stable renal function were scheduled to receive phenprocoumon or dabigatran for long-term anticoagulation after implantation of a HeartWare HVAD system following an open-label balanced parallel group design.