What you need to know
The Heart and Vascular Hospital at Hackensack recently held a reunion to honor patients who received a percutaneous ventricular assist device (pVAD) called the Impella Heart Pump.
According to Mark Anderson, M.D., chief of the Division of Cardiac Surgery and cardiothoracic surgeon at the Heart and Vascular Hospital at Hackensack, 125 PVADs were implanted in patients at Hackensack in 2018.
About the Impella Device
The Impella device is approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in cardiogenic shock.
The Impella Heart Pump is designed to protect the patient hemodynamically during a high-risk procedure. It can be inserted via a standard catheterization procedure through the femoral artery, into the ascending aorta, across the valve and into the left ventricle.
Back row: Christopher Montana, Westwood; Lowei Gamboa, Fort Lee; Bonnie Stambaugh, Hasbrouck Heights; Haroon Faraz, M.D., attending physician, Heart and Vascular Hospital; Scott Roberts, Lodi; Joseph E. Parrillo, M.D., chair, Heart and Vascular Hospital; Adam Raskin, M.D., attending physician, Heart and Vascular Hospital; Irfan Admani, M.D., FACC, coronary interventionist, Heart and Vascular Hospital and Pranaychandra J. Vaidya M.D., chief, Cardiac Catheterization Lab, Heart and Vascular Hospital.