Medical Center Hospital physicians can now add the world's smallest heart pump to their portfolio of treatment options to assist critically ill patients that are experiencing advanced cardiac failure or shock in recovering from heart attack or other insult/injury.
In June 2008, the Impella 2.5 catheter-based heart pump received 510(k) clearance by the Food and Drug Administration. As the smallest heart pump on the market, Impella 2.5 works by temporarily relieving the heart's pumping function and providing the time needed to initiate life-saving interventions.
The Impella 2.5 is inserted percutaneously in the catheterization laboratory (cath lab) via the femoral artery into the left ventricle, a procedure that lasts just a few minutes. Up to two and a half liters of blood are delivered by the pump from the left ventricle into the ascending aorta, providing the heart with active support while providing three to five times more blood flow than the traditional available devices.
Using the Impella 2.5, Medical Center Hospital is the first institution to bring a percutaneous ventricular assist device to West-Texas and adds to the growing number of healthcare institutions around the country committed to optimal heart recovery. "Our team can now perform cutting-edge, life-saving cardiovascular procedures in a matter of minutes in the sickest of our patients," said Fernando Boccalandro, MD, FACC, FSCAI, an interventional cardiologist from Odessa Heart Institute who led the adoption of this technology in Medical Center Hospital. "The Impella 2.5 is a breakthrough technology that offers our physicians a minimally invasive approach in cardiac treatment and will help change the industry standard of care in the cath lab with its seamless and immediate circulatory support for critical patients."
Abiomed's Impella 2.5 is a cardiac assist device which is inserted percutaneously in the cardiac catheterization lab, providing patients with up to 2.5 liters of blood flow per minute. It is the world's smallest heart pump and has been used to treat conditions such as acute myocardial infarction (heart attack), cardiogenic shock and low output syndromes. The Impella 2.5 can be quickly inserted retrograde into the left ventricle through the femoral artery, into the ascending aorta, across the aortic valve and into the left ventricle and can remain in place for short-term support. Now being used in the U.S., the Impella 2.5 is approved in more than 40 countries, including in Europe under the CE Mark. The Impella platform has been used to treat more than 1,900 patients outside the U.S.
About Medical Center Hospital
Medical Center Hospital (MCH) in Odessa, Texas is the only full-service hospital in Ector County. Nearly sixty years ago, the citizens of Odessa saw the need to build a community hospital. Through the years, this once small 85 bed community hospital has grown to become a 362 bed regional medical center; a teaching hospital; and now a health care system including satellite outpatient services and integrated physician services. Serving as the regional referral hospital for the 17 surrounding counties of the Permian Basin, MCH prides itself on obtaining the reputation as one of West Texas' leading hospitals.
About Abiomed
Based in Danvers, Massachusetts, Abiomed, Inc., is a leading provider of medical devices that provide circulatory support to acute heart failure patients across the continuum of care in heart recovery. Our products are designed to enable the heart to rest, heal and recover by improving blood flow and/or performing the pumping of the heart. For additional information please visit: www.abiomed.com.
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