Education Library

Vasileios Panoulas, MD, discusses an individual patient data pooling from the PROTECT II RCT, PROTECT III, and RESTORE EF trials released at EuroPCR 2023.

This FAQ addresses thrombus formation and anticoagulation for blood-contacting medical devices, such as the Impella® heart pump.

Jeremy Moretz, PharmD, BCCP, describes the Impella® heart pump purge system and explains that while Impella has historically required a heparin-based purge solution, a sodium hydrogencarbonate-based (also called "bicarbonate") purge solution is now a viable alternative.

Prof. Dr. Christophe Vandenbriele discusses managing anticoagulation in patients supported with Impella heart pumps and the use of bicarbonate-based purge fluid for Impella.

Dr. Andreas Götzenich interviews Dr. Benedikt Schrage from Hamburg on the topic "Early left ventricular unloading improves survival in patients with cardiogenic shock undergoing extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO)".

In this paper, Sascha Ott and colleagues describe a standard operating procedure (SOP) they developed for determining the temporary mechanical circulatory support (tMCS) strategy for patients in cardiogenic shock (CS).

Prof. Carsten Skurk, MD, and Tharusan Thevathasan, MD, discuss ECMELLA support — VA ECMO and Impella CP® heart pump — in refractory cardiac arrest.

Prof. Dr. med. Gregor Warnecke discusses how to achieve better outcomes in patients with postcardiotomy cardiogenic shock (PCCS).

Prof. Evgenij Potapov explains how “ECMELLA 2+” achieves over 50% survival in patients with very severe cardiogenic shock while minimizing complications and enabling mobilization.

Prof. Evgenij Potapov discusses improved survival in patients who were treated at his institution with standard operating procedures (SOPs) for cardiogenic shock.

Alan Gass, MD, discusses data from successful management of patients with Impella 5.5® with SmartAssist® heart pump and ECMO.

Roberto Lorusso, MD, Alan Gass, MD, and Evgenij Potapov, MD, discuss topics related to ECpella and LV unloading in this Q&A session from ELSO 2022.

Prof. Jan Belohlavek, MD, discusses ECMO CS trial results comparing immediate VA ECMO with conservative therapy allowing VA ECMO downstream in severe cardiogenic shock.

This article presents 3 case vignettes that provide practical insights and reinforce best practices. The authors emphasize that several cardiac and patient-related factors come into play when considering patients for Protected percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).

In this article the authors describe techniques for Impella heart pump removal with or without pre-closure and discuss how to prevent and manage complications associated with large-bore femoral access.