Background 

Increasingly, there is a trend toward the use of left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) for treating advanced heart failure, as both bridge-to-transplant therapy and destination therapy. Living with an LVAD profoundly influences patients' lives. Only a few study authors investigated the experience of people with abdominal LVADs, and nothing is known about the unique experience of those with retro-auricular LVADs.

Objective 

The aim of this study was to explore and describe experiences and lifestyle adjustments in adults with retro-auricular LVADs implanted as destination therapy.

Methods 

Interpretive description methodology was used to explore the experiences of a purposeful sample of 10 individuals with retro-auricular LVADs implanted as destination therapy. Data were collected using in-depth semistructured interviews. Data collection and analysis were simultaneous. Triangulation, journaling, and the “thoughtful clinician test” were used to increase trustworthiness of the findings.

Results 

Three primary themes describing the experience of people with retro-auricular LVADs were developed: “a new life,” “self-care,” and “resilience”; in addition, a crosscutting theme was identified: “support system.” This article focuses on the theme “a new life,” described as a continuum of events. Individuals with advanced heart failure struggle with symptom burden and consider the implantation of the device as the final option to delay death; then, they wait for the surgery that represents a turning point, after which they begin to recover through a process of adjustment until they reach a new normality.

Conclusions 

Living with a retro-auricular LVAD impacts every aspect of people's lives. Knowing their experiences can help clinicians to develop targeted interventions and offer tailored support.

中文翻译：

---

使用耳后左心室辅助装置作为目的地治疗的成年人：解释性描述。

背景 

越来越多的趋势是使用左心室辅助装置 (LVAD) 治疗晚期心力衰竭，作为移植治疗和目的地治疗。使用 LVAD 对患者的生活产生深远的影响。只有少数研究作者调查了腹部 LVAD 患者的经历，并且对耳后 LVAD 患者的独特经历一无所知。

客观的 

本研究的目的是探索和描述植入耳后 LVAD 作为目的地治疗的成人的体验和生活方式调整。

方法 

解释性描述方法被用来探索一个有目的的样本，其中有 10 名植入耳后 LVAD 作为目的地治疗的个体。使用深入的半结构化访谈收集数据。数据收集和分析是同时进行的。三角测量、日记和“深思熟虑的临床医生测试”被用来增加研究结果的可信度。

结果 

描述了耳后 LVAD 患者体验的三个主要主题：“新生活”、“自我保健”和“恢复力”；此外，确定了一个横向主题：“支持系统”。本文重点关注“新生活”这一主题，该主题被描述为一系列事件。晚期心力衰竭患者与症状负担作斗争，并考虑将植入装置作为延迟死亡的最终选择；然后，他们等待代表转折点的手术，之后他们开始通过调整过程恢复，直到他们达到新的常态。

结论 

耳后 LVAD 会影响人们生活的方方面面。了解他们的经验可以帮助临床医生制定有针对性的干预措施并提供量身定制的支持。