Results from the 1st patients treated with CardioKinetix’s Parachute implant suggest that the device may be able to help reshape the heart following a heart attack, improving pumping.
The Parachute device is used to restore damage to the left ventricle after a heart attack by partitioning the space to its usual geometry and function. Researchers said that the implant helped improve the heart’s function over the course of 12 months, boosting left ventricular volume and, in some cases, left atrial volume.
Patients showed improvements in their 6-minute walk distance, adding about 25 meters after 12 months. The procedural success rate was nearly 96%, the stroke rate was 2.9% and all-cause mortality was 5.7%.
The device may further help reduce hospitalizations and lower mortality, Medscape reported.
The catheter-based Parachute device is currently in the midst of a U.S. clinical trial in pursuit of FDA approval. The implant has been available overseas since winning European CE Mark in 2011.
California-based CardioKinetix has been making the conference circuit, touting promising study results at the 2014 ACC Conference in Washington, D.C., in April and this month at the 2014 Heart Failure Congress of the European Society of Cardiology Heart Failure Assn.
The company debuted its Parachute late last year in China after treating the 1st Asian patient in September 2013.
