predictors of mortality after shortterm ventricular assist device placement background risk assessment prior to longterm ventricular assist device vad placement has been shown to be crucial for successful outcomes and efficient resource utilization shortterm vads are often used as salvage therapy in acute heart failure when the clinical scenario precludes such thorough preoperative assessment our goal was to devise a risk stratification system that may be used shortly after stabilization of hemodynamics with a shortterm vad to predict the likelihood of survivalmethods a retrospective study was performed of all patients undergoing abiomed abiomed cardiovascular inc danvers ma or centrimag levitronix llc waltham ma placement at our institution or transferred to our institution with the device in place from january 2001 until august 2009 93 patients were identified preoperative and early postoperative variables were analyzed for their correlation with inhospital mortalityresults multivariable logistic regression analysis identified factors that were associated with death a threepoint scoring system utilizing a diagnosis of postcardiotomy shock or graft failure female sex and postoperative day 3 total bilirubin greater than 52 mgdl was devised a score of 2 or greater was associated with an 86 mortality rate whereas a score of 0 was associated with a 13 mortality rateconclusions a simple scoring system based on readily available data may predict mortality after shortterm vad placement such a scoring system may be of prognostic value for physicians and patient families early in the support period and may help guide decisions