Incidence of Hemocompatibility Events With or Without Aspirin in Patients With CH-VAD

This was a multi-center, retrospective observational study including patients who underwent CH-VAD implantation in 13 participating centers after its commercial approval, from Aug 2022 through Aug 2025. Patients who died during the index hospitalization were excluded. Patients whose antiplatelet regimen was modified before the occurrence of the first non-surgical hemocompatibility-related adverse event (HRAE) were also excluded to avoid exposure misclassification. Patients were divided into two groups: those receiving aspirin in addition to warfarin (ASA+VKA) versus those receiving warfarin alone (VKA only). Warfarin was started once the patient was clinically stable and able to tolerate oral medication, with a target international normalized ratio (INR) of 2.0-2.5. For patients receiving aspirin, the dose was 100 mg daily.

The primary endpoint was a composite of survival free of major nonsurgical HRAEs at 12 months. Nonsurgical events were defined as any event occurring > 14-days post implant to avoid perioperative confounding. The composite endpoint was comprised of stroke, pump thrombosis, major nonsurgical bleeding, and peripheral arterial thromboembolism.

Inclusion criteria

• Patients who underwent CH-VAD implantation in 13 participating centers after its commercial approval, from Aug 2022 through Aug 2025.

Exclusion criteria

• Patients who died during the index hospitalization.
• Patients whose antiplatelet regimen was modified before the occurrence of the first non-surgical hemocompatibility-related adverse event (HRAE) .