Business Wire

MA-ABIOMED-INC

28.10.2020 13:05:13 CET | Business Wire | Press release

Share
First Patients Treated with the World’s Smallest Heart Pump, the 9Fr Impella ECP

Abiomed (NASDAQ: ABMD) announces the first two patients have been treated with the Impella ECP expandable percutaneous heart pump. Impella ECP is the smallest heart pump in the world. It measures 9 French (Fr) (3 millimeters) in diameter upon insertion and removal from the body. While in the heart, it expands while supporting the heart’s pumping function, providing peak flows greater than 3.5 L/min.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20201028005398/en/

The first Impella ECP patient was treated by Amir Kaki, MD, an interventional cardiologist and director of mechanical circulatory support at Ascension St. John Hospital in Detroit, part of Ascension Michigan. The patient had severe narrowing of his coronary arteries. Dr. Kaki successfully opened the patient’s arteries by performing several percutaneous interventions with support from Impella ECP including atherectomy and two one-minute long balloon inflations.

The second patient was treated at The Christ Hospital in Cincinnati by Timothy Smith, MD, an interventional cardiologist and director of cardiovascular intensive care unit, cardiogenic shock and ECMO programs. The patient had severe narrowing of the coronary arteries, including complex left main bifurcation disease and low ejection fraction. Percutaneous coronary intervention was successfully performed with support from Impella ECP.

“Ascension St. John Hospital is pleased to be the heart center leading this patient milestone as part of the early feasibility study of the smallest heart pump in the world,” said Dr. Kaki. "This new technology allows for a less invasive approach which may ultimately lead to better healing and recovery.”

“This groundbreaking technology will help more physicians provide critical hemodynamic support to patients who need it,” said Dr. Smith. “In the patient we treated, Impella ECP enabled the procedure by providing hemodynamic stability while we treated complex disease in a patient with low ejection fraction.”

Impella ECP is being studied under a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) early feasibility study. It is designed to provide temporary circulatory support and left ventricular unloading in patients undergoing a high-risk PCI. Impella ECP is delivered though a slender profile 9Fr sheath. It is un-sheathed in the descending aorta and expands. Then, using a specially designed pigtail, it crosses the aortic valve without a wire, and pumps from inside the left ventricle. When the procedure is complete, the pump is re-sheathed back down to 9Fr and removed.

“Impella ECP is part of Abiomed’s commitment to continually innovate, patent new breakthroughs, and improve patient outcomes by developing smaller, smarter, and more connected technology,” said Michael R. Minogue, Abiomed’s Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer.

The primary endpoint of the FDA early feasibility study is successful delivery, initiation and maintenance of adequate hemodynamic support and a composite rate of major device-related adverse events during high-risk PCI. The study protocol will enroll and treat up to five U.S. patients who require revascularization. If successful, enrollment will be expanded to additional patients, pending FDA approval.

Impella ECP is an investigational device, limited by federal law to investigational use only.

ABOUT ABIOMED

Based in Danvers, Massachusetts, USA, Abiomed, Inc. is a leading provider of medical devices that provide circulatory support. Our products are designed to enable the heart to rest by improving blood flow and/or performing the pumping of the heart. For additional information, please visit: www.abiomed.com .

Abiomed, Impella, Impella 2.5, Impella 5.0, Impella LD, Impella CP, Impella RP, Impella 5.5, Impella Connect, and SmartAssist are registered trademarks of Abiomed, Inc., and are registered in the U.S. and certain foreign countries. Impella ECP, Impella XR Sheath, Impella BTR, CVAD Study, STEMI DTU and Automated Impella Controller are pending trademarks of Abiomed, Inc.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Any forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties such as those described in Abiomed's periodic reports on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Actual results may differ materially from anticipated results.

About Business Wire

Business Wire
Business Wire
101 California Street, 20th Floor
CA 94111 San Francisco

http://businesswire.com

Subscribe to releases from Business Wire

Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Latest releases from Business Wire

IQM achieves milestone in quantum error correction, enabling fault-tolerant computing in the near-term23.6.2026 16:41:00 CEST | Press release

New research introduces a family of error-correcting codes that reduce qubit overhead by up to 1,000 times compared to today’s leading approach — without requiring any new hardware. IQM Quantum Computers, the global leader in superconducting quantum computers, today announced a significant achievement in quantum error correction, using directional tile codes, marking a major step toward practical, large-scale fault-tolerant quantum computing. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260623243333/en/ IQM achieves milestone in quantum error correction, enabling fault-tolerant computing in the near-term The research, available on arXiv, and co-authored by IQM researchers and collaborators at Freie Universität Berlin, the University of Edinburgh, and Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, introduces ‘directional tile codes’, a new family of quantum error-correcting codes that resolves one of the central tensions in quantum

NetApp Enhances Support for AI Workloads at Massive Scale23.6.2026 16:00:00 CEST | Press release

StorageGRID 12.1 delivers up to 12TB/s throughput and massive scale for AI workloads NetApp® (NASDAQ: NTAP), the Intelligent Data Infrastructure company, today announced the release of StorageGRID 12.1, designed to help customers scale AI and other modern workloads with a federated global namespace. The new capabilities improve how data is accessed, processed, and managed across distributed environments to support AI data pipelines, data lakes, and modern object-based applications. Organizations are contending with rapid growth in unstructured data to serve AI workloads while also managing that data across increasingly distributed hybrid environments. In its Object Storage Solutions Landscape, Q1 2026 report, Forrester notes that the rise of generative AI has pushed object storage further into an AI‑optimized data platform beyond its historical uses supporting enterprise data strategies with scalable, durable storage for unstructured data, media, and backups. The updates to NetApp Stor

GigaDevice and Qt Group Announce Global Partnership to Advance the Embedded GUI Ecosystem23.6.2026 16:00:00 CEST | Press release

GigaDevice, a leading semiconductor company specializing in Flash memory, 32-bit microcontrollers (MCUs), sensors, and analog products, has officially entered a strategic partnership with Qt Group, a global leader in software design, development, and quality assurance solutions. Leveraging the GD32H7 high-performance MCU series, the two companies will collaborate to optimize and enhance embedded GUI solutions, enabling developers to create more intuitive, visually rich, and responsive user experiences. This collaboration further expands GigaDevice’s ecosystem strategy in advanced human-machine interface (HMI) and establishes a solid foundation for future innovation across smart industry solutions, energy storage systems, smart home devices, and consumer electronics. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260623351273/en/ GigaDevice and Qt Group Announce Global Partnership to Advance the Embedded GUI Ecosystem As IoT,

Otonal Launches Localization Service to Adapt English Podcasts and Audio Ads for the Japanese Market23.6.2026 16:00:00 CEST | Press release

Otonal Inc., a Tokyo-based digital audio advertising and podcast technology company, has officially launched a specialized audio localization service designed to help global brands and media companies adapt their English-language podcasts and audio advertisements for the Japanese market. Audio Ad Localization https://otonal.co.jp/en/audioad-localization/ Podcast Localization https://otonal.co.jp/en/podcast-localization/ While many translation vendors focus on text-based, one-size-fits-all translation, Otonal’s service addresses the distinct challenges of audio-first localization. The service goes beyond standard translation by rebuilding scripts for spoken Japanese, ensuring precise 15- and 30-second ad timings, adapting the content to local cultural context, and casting native Japanese voice talent suited to the content and delivery environment to maintain brand authority and tone. Japan ranks among the world's leading economies and is one of Asia’s largest advertising markets, making

Merck Collaborates with Versant Ventures to Launch Saturnus Bio to Advance Treatments for Rare Genetic Cardiomyopathies23.6.2026 15:30:00 CEST | Press release

Saturnus Bio is a next-generation precision cardiology company that utilizes targeted gene modulation to address rare mono-genetic cardiomyopathies with significant unmet needThe collaboration will augment Merck’s efforts to pursue precision medicine-defined indicationsNot intended for Canada-, UK- or US-based media Merck, a leading global science and technology company, today announced a strategic research-stage collaboration with Saturnus Bio, a Versant Ventures-founded biotech, aimed at establishing a foundational portfolio in the promising field of rare genetic cardiomyopathies. This partnership aligns with the company’s commitment to address significant unmet medical needs in rare populations through targeted treatments. “Through our partnership with Saturnus Bio, we aim to fast track the development of innovative therapies for genetic cardiomyopathies through precision cardiology, targeting the rare population impacted by these conditions,” said David Weinreich, MD, Head of Resea

In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.

Visit our pressroom
World GlobeA line styled icon from Orion Icon Library.HiddenA line styled icon from Orion Icon Library.Eye