Impella Pump Support – provides hemodynamic support during protected Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI)

We recently performed a very high risk angioplasty with Impella pump support. Our patient was at a high risk due to advanced age and multiple medical conditions, including poor kidney function, poor heart function, low blood pressure and a complex location of the heart artery narrowing. He was admitted with refractory heart failure and had a severe narrowing of the left main artery. The Impella pump (white arrows in photo) is a pump that is inserted via the groin that helps to pump blood out of the heart, reducing the workload of the heart and maintaining blood pressure. 

The angioplasty was performed uneventfully with the Impella pump support and the patient has been discharged home. The Impella pump is a new technology to help support the patient’s heart and blood pressure during very high risk and complex angioplasty, thus making such procedures safer and increasing the procedural success.