Abiomed Inc. (NSDQ:ABMD) posted video of a procedure involving its Impella 2.5 cardiac assist device, detailing how the tiny heart pump was used during a rotational atherectomy and "simultaneous kissing stent" technique Jan. 19 on a 58-year-old male patient at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York.
The Danvers, Mass.-based medical device maker’s Impella 2.5 is inserted into the heart’s left ventricle during cardiac procedures to help the organ pump blood. Abiomed said this particular patient posted severe left ventricle dysfunction, with an ejection fraction of only 25 percent. That’s a measure of how well the ventricle is pumping blood; normal LVEFs are in the 60 percent to 66 percent range.