Tiny Heart Pump Aids Heart Patients

Impella Heart Pump

Affecting about 5 million Americans, each year roughly 550,000 people are diagnosed with heart failure.

The Impella 2.5, made by Abiomed Inc. has recently been approved by the Food and Drug Administration. This device is the smallest heart pump on the market and works by temporarily taking over the pumping function of the heart.

The Impella 2.5 is catheter based, which makes it easier to insert. The device can be inserted through a standard guide wire, going through the femoral artery and into the left ventricle of the heart. The small heart pump can provide up to 2.5 liters of blood per minute. 

Cardiologists at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center will be using this tiny device to help critically ill heart patients.

“It will unload the work of the heart, providing time and options when you are in the middle of high-risk events,” said Vinay Thohan, M.D., director of the Congestive Heart Failure and Heart Transplant Program at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center. “This new device can be inserted through a catheter similar to a routine heart catheterization. It allows the heart to rest and, in some cases, recover.”

Source: Wake Forest