Worsowicz, Gregory M.

Prehabilitation with Impella 5.5 offers hemodynamic support while allowing early mobilization, yet its overall effect on post-transplant recovery remains unclear. The aim was to assess recovery during Impella 5.5–supported prehabilitation and determine its association with early post-heart transplant outcomes, including a potential dose–response relationship with ambulatory activity. We conducted a single-center retrospective cohort study of adults bridged to transplant with Impella 5.5 between April 1, 2022 and September 30, 2024. Daily walking distance, recorded by nursing staff, served as the intervention. Primary outcome was postoperative hospital length of stay (LOS); the secondary outcome was time to extubation. Fine–Gray competing-risk models, adjusted for age, Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score, New York Heart Association (NYHA) class, and days of Impella support, assessed associations. Longitudinal recovery trajectories were analyzed with linear mixed-effects models incorporating restricted cubic splines. Among 82 eligible patients, 65 met the inclusion criteria. Patients who walked farther during Impella 5.5 support in the intensive care unit (ICU) had shorter hospital stays and were taken off the ventilator sooner after transplantation. The overall recovery peaked during the first 2–3 weeks of support, with smaller recovery thereafter, indicating that most functional recovery occurred early during prehabilitation.

AbstractBackgroundPatients in the intensive care unit (ICU) often experience extended periods of immobility. Following hospital discharge, many face impaired mobility and never return to their baseline function. Although the benefits of physical and occupational rehabilitation are well established in non‐ICU patients, a paucity of work describes effective practices to alleviate ICU‐related declines in mobility.ObjectiveTo assess how rehabilitation with physical and occupational therapy (PT‐OT) during ICU stays affects patients' mobility, self‐care, and length of hospital stay.DesignRetrospective cohort study.SettingInpatient ICU.ParticipantsA total of 6628 adult patients who received physical rehabilitation across multiple sites (Arizona, Florida, Minnesota, and Wisconsin) of a single institution between January 2018 and December 2021.InterventionsNot applicable.Main Outcome MeasuresDescriptive statistics, linear regression models, and gradient boosting machine methods were used to determine the relationship between the amount of PT‐OT received and outcomes of hospital length of stay (LOS), Activity Measure for Post‐Acute Care Daily Activity and Basic Mobility scores.ResultsThe 6628 patients who met inclusion criteria received an average (median) of 23 (range: 1‐89) minutes of PT‐OT per day. Regression analyses showed each additional 10 minutes of PT‐OT per day was associated with a 1.0% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.41–1.66, p < .001) higher final Basic Mobility score, a 1.8% (95% CI: 1.30%–2.34%, p < .001) higher final Daily Activity score, and a 1.2‐day (95% CI: −1.28 to −1.09, p < .001) lower hospital LOS. One‐dimensional partial dependence plots revealed an exponential decrease in predicted LOS as minutes of PT‐OT received increased.ConclusionHigher rehabilitation minutes provided to patients in the ICU may reduce the LOS and improve patients' functional outcomes at discharge. The benefits of rehabilitation increased with increasing amounts of time of therapy received.