New Device To Support Blood Circulation For Heart Patients Shows Improved Outcomes Compared To Current Treatment, University of Miami Study Finds

A new device designed to assist blood circulation and support blood pressure in high-risk patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) has shown improved outcomes compared to the standard treatment with an intraaortic balloon pump. Results of the PROTECT II study were presented as a Late-Breaking Clinical Trial today at the SCAI 2011 Scientific Sessions in Baltimore. These devices decrease the heart's workload and increase blood pressure by assisting the heart to pump blood, and are generally used in critical situations, such as after a heart attack. For many years physicians have used intraaortic balloon pumps to support the heart pumping blood. A new device called Impella 2.5 is small enough to be inserted like a catheter, through the groin, to the heart's main pumping chamber to assist the heart in pumping blood.