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Health Sciences Authority
Dear Healthcare Professional Letters

Updated recommendations for subset of implanted Medtronic HeartWare™ Ventricular Assist Device Systems (HVAD™) with potential delay or failure of pump restart

Audiences

Healthcare professional

Industry member

Product type

Medical devices

6 July 2021

This article has been migrated from an earlier version of the site and may display formatting inconsistencies.

Updated recommendations for subset of implanted Medtronic HeartWare™ Ventricular Assist Device Systems (HVAD™) with potential delay or failure of pump restart

A Dear Healthcare Professional Letter has been issued by Medtronic International Ltd, as a follow-up to their earlier communication in January 2021, to update healthcare professionals of additional recommendations to assist in clinical decision-making when considering a controller exchange for a subset of implanted Medtronic HeartWare™ Ventricular Assist Device (HVAD™) Systems with potential delay or failure of pump restart. In addition to the patient management recommendations communicated previously, healthcare professionals are advised to consider on an individual case-by-case basis if an elective controller exchange should be performed, based on their clinical judgement. In addition, healthcare professionals are advised that the pump will not stop due to a Medium Priority alarm. A Medium Priority alarm can be temporarily muted to allow time to bring the patient to a clinic to determine next steps while the pump is still functioning. While this alarm can also be permanently silenced, clinicians are advised to consider the risk before doing so. Please refer to the letter for details.

Only abstracts of the Dear Healthcare Professional Letters (DHCPL) are provided on this website. Details of these letters can be found in the MOH Alert System, which is accessible via the Health Professionals Portal (HPP), a one-stop portal for all healthcare professionals in Singapore. Dentists, medical doctors and pharmacists may access HPP at https://hpp.moh.gov.sg (opens in new tab) and follow the procedures below to access the MOH Alert system.

Step 1: Select your profession under ‘For Healthcare Professionals’.

Step 2: Click on ‘Useful links’.

Step 3: Click on ‘MOH Alert’ and log in via Singpass.

Step 4: Click on ‘Drug Alerts’ or ‘Med Device Alerts’ to view the DHCPLs.