Port Huron, MI – McLaren Port Huron now provides a procedure that offers greater promise to patients with heart disease – especially those patients unable to undergo heart surgery.
The application of Protected Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI) with Impella, the world’s smallest heart pump, can serve as a viable option by relieving arterial congestion and significantly improving blood flow to the heart and other critical organs.
In traditional angioplasty, a heart physician inflates a small balloon in the restricted portion of the artery. The expanded balloon reopens the artery, enabling its blood to flow normally.
For some patients, though, the condition of their heart disease is too severe for traditional PCI, and heart surgery would pose too great a risk. For them, Protected PCI might be an option.
A relatively new, but widely accepted procedure, PCI uses Impella to temporarily assist the heart’s pumping function. Placed through the femoral artery, the Impella heart pump helps ensure blood flow is maintained to critical organs such as the brain and kidneys during a PCI procedure.
Impella gives the heart muscle a rest. It reduces the heart’s workload for the procedure’s duration and prevents overstress while the coronary artery blockages are relieved.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave expanded pre-market approval to the Impella 2.5 and Impella CP heart pumps for use in elective and urgent high-risk Percutaneous Coronary Intervention in February.
Heart disease is the leading cause of death for men and women in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Protected Percutaneous Coronary Intervention with Impella at McLaren Port Huron is a welcome new weapon in the battle for heart health. For more information, visit www.mclaren.org/phheart.