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ORLANDO, Fla. (February 10, 2010) --- Sometimes a patient’s heart needs a little extra support in order to receive the specialized treatment it needs. Electrophysiologists at Orlando Regional Medical Center (ORMC) are using Impella®, a new device to help hearts beat more efficiently, providing improved circulation, in order to perform procedures to treat cardiac conditions. ORMC is the first in Central Florida to use the device during electrophysiology procedures.
“This is a very significant advancement,” said Aurelio Duran, MD, cardiology chair at ORMC. "Mechanical assistance to the heart is like having a temporary artificial heart. It makes performing the needed procedures safer for patients and gives doctors greater control over patients’ blood pressure and stability.”
Having the assist device might be critical for the hundreds of thousands of patients with advanced heart failure with significantly weakened hearts as it makes it possible to receive other critical procedures like ablation to cure arrhythmia, angioplasty to clear blocked arteries, or a defibrillator implanted to help regulate heart beats.
The Impella device, by Abiomed, Inc., is a minimally invasive catheter-based pump that has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for partial circulatory support for up to 6 hours. The pump is approximately the size of a pencil with a small catheter, which drives up to two and a half liters of blood flow per minute. This is about half of a normal heart's pumping capacity while at rest.
“Using a small tube or catheter, the device is temporarily placed in the heart, making blood circulation more effective and improving the overall cardiac function,” explains Dr. Duran, cardiology chair at ORMC.
Before the Impella device doctors used adrenaline like medicines and other devices such as a balloon-based pump for support.
The device is currently an option for ORMC patients with advanced heart failure during electrophysiology and other cardiac procedures. It is also used to help stabilize patients during heart attacks.
About Orlando Health
Orlando Health is a $1.5 billion not-for-profit health care organization and a community-based network of hospitals and care centers in the Orlando region. The organization, which includes the area’s only Level One Trauma Centers for adults and pediatrics, is a statutory teaching hospital system that offers both specialty and community hospitals. They are: Orlando Regional Medical Center; Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children; Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women & Babies; Dr. P. Phillips Hospital; South Seminole Hospital; South Lake Hospital (50 percent partnership); St. Cloud Regional Medical Center (20 percent partnership) and M. D. Anderson Cancer Center Orlando – the first affiliate of one of the nation’s premier cancer centers The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. Orlando Health’s areas of clinical excellence are heart and vascular, cancer care, neurosciences, surgery, pediatric orthopedics and sports medicine, neonatology, and obstetrics and gynecology.
Orlando Health is Central Florida’s fifth largest employer with nearly 14,000 employees and more than 2,000 affiliated physicians, all of whom support our philosophy of providing high quality care and service when it matters most. We prove this everyday with over 100,000 inpatient admissions and more than 600,000 outpatient visits each year. In all, Orlando Health serves 1.6 million Central Florida residents and nearly 3,000 international patients annually. Additionally, Orlando Health provides approximately $198 million in support of community health needs. More information can be found at www.orlandohealth.com.