Ancient Principle Fuels Modern Heart Device
Device in Trials May Allow Surgery-Free Heart Intervention
"It's going to be superior to other kinds of support," said O'Neill. "This device itself is better at taking blood out of the heart and pushing it forward as the heart naturally would."
The Impella is threaded through the widest artery in the leg, known as the femoral artery. This artery gives access through the heart valve into the left ventricle -- the part of the heart responsible for pumping blood throughout the body.
Once the catheter of the Impella has been inserted, a needle, which looks much like a mosquito tongue, curls around and a small screw inside the device begins churning blood, helping to propel the blood out of the left ventricle and push it through the body.
The churning component is known as Archimedes' screw, after the ancient Syracusian inventor who used it to bring water from a deep well, and is a technique that may even have been around before the third century B.C. It is commonly used in irrigation, as it can help water to flow uphill.
The Impella can pump roughly 2 to 2.5 liters of blood from the heart in a minute.
"It's enough to augment the failing heart and keep blood pressure maintained," said O'Neill. "It really can provide very effective support in people that have almost no heart function."
Dr. Faisal Khan, Zeoli's heart surgeon at St. Elizabeth's, likens use of the device to regulating traffic; by pushing some of the blood through itself, Khan explains, the Impella is enabling the heart to maintain blood flow while pumping less.
"When it's pumping against less traffic, or less pressure, it can get blood around easier," he said, noting that by allowing the heart to work less temporarily, it may hasten recovery.
Khan said the device can do roughly half of the heart's work.
So far, he has used the device on two patients, Zeoli and another patient who needed it after a heart attack.
"We're excited about the potential they will provide to us to extend the care of patients who are very sick," said Khan.
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