I. Introduction
Heart failure (HF) is a progressive disease and the leading cause of mortality in the United States. Heart transplantation is the preferred treatment for end-stage HF patients; however, due to a critical shortage of available donor hearts, only 5%–10% of end-stage HF patients receive a heart transplant [1]. The paucity of donor hearts has led to the clinical acceptance of mechanical circulatory support (MCS) devices to assist the failing heart, either as a bridge to transplant or recovery, or destination therapy (long-term implant) [2], [3]. Most end-stage HF patients have left ventricular failure and may choose to receive required left ventricular assist device (LVAD) therapy. However, a significant number of HF patients develop both left and right ventricular failure (biventricular failure) for which LVAD therapy alone may not be effective. Further, up to 25% of LVAD patients develop right ventricular failure after LVAD implant [4]. Patients with end-stage biventricular failure are mechanically supported by biventricular assist devices (BiVAD), which consist of an LVAD to pump the blood from the left ventricle (LV) to the aorta and a right ventricular assist device (RVAD) to pump the blood from the right ventricle (RV) to the pulmonary artery [5].