Patient characteristics
The patient characteristics of all cohorts are shown in
Table 1 . Ninety-nine (83.2%) men and 20 (18.6%) women
were enrolled at the time of surgery, with a mean age of 55.9 ± 11.9
years at the time of surgery. The mean BMI of all patients was within
the normal range (26.5 ± 4.98 kg/m2). In our cohort,
59 patients (49.6%) were categorized in the interagency registry for
mechanically assisted circulatory support (INTERMACS) 1. Similarly, 52
patients (43.7%) required preoperative venous-arterial extracorporeal
membrane oxygenation (va-ECMO) support. This means that half of our
cohort suffered from critical cardiogenic shock and needed definitive
permanent mechanical circulatory support. Because of these severely
impaired patient cohorts, the mean MELD score was also relatively high
(17.2 ± 8.33). This effect was also reflected in the postoperative
clinical outcomes, i.e., 43.7% of postoperative va-ECMO support or 40%
of right ventricular assist device support. Forty-four patients (37%)
had MACE, whereas the in-hospital mortality rate was 27.7%. Regarding
the long-term outcome, Figure 1 shows the Kaplan-Meier
survival curve for up to years 10 post-implant, in which the survival
rate rapidly decreased up to 1 year post-implant (52.6%). Subsequently,
this trend became gradual. The survival rate at 10 years post-implant
was 31.5%.