CardioExchange Archive

CardioExchange, an NEJM practice community for medical professionals dedicated to improving cardiac patient care, was active from 2009 to 2015. CardioExchange fostered discussion between clinicians from across the globe.

January 29th, 2015

FDA Approves Right Percutaneous Single Access Heart Pump

Abiomed has announced that it received FDA approval for its Impella RP System, the first percutaneous single access heart pump that provides support to the right side of the heart. The approval, under a Humanitarian Device Exemption (HDE), is based on results of the single-arm Recover Right study, in which 30 patients were enrolled. The overall survival rate was 73% at 30 days.

The device is indicated to provide circulatory support for as long as 14 days to pediatric or adult patients with acute right heart failure or decompensation after implantation of an LVAD, MI, heart transplant, or open-heart surgery. The Impella RP provides up to four liters per minute of hemodynamic support, according to the company.

Abiomed said the device would undergo a “controlled launch” and would be available only after sites complete a rigorous training course involving the heart team from each institution, “including the interventional cardiologist, cardiac surgeon, heart failure cardiologist and lead nurse.”

The FDA is requiring Abiomed to perform post-approval studies in 30 adult patients and up to 15 pediatric patients. The single-arm studies will follow patients at 30 days and 180 days after device explant.

The Boston Globe reported that the company plans to initiate follow-up testing that could potentially significantly expand the patient population eligible to receive the device.

 

Categories: Heart Failure
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One Response to “FDA Approves Right Percutaneous Single Access Heart Pump”

  1. John Ryan, MD says:
    January 29, 2015 at 10:45 pm

    We have really struggled in the surgical, percutaneous and medical management of right heart failure. Although we have identified many ways to support and remodel the left ventricle, when it come to right ventricular failure, there has been very little progress. Correspondingly, there is very little agreement in how best to manage right heart failure. In some series, RHF has a mortality over 50%. The introduction of a right ventricular support device is a major step forward in understanding how the right heart fails and how we can affect the natural history of this process.