Indication and short-term clinical outcomes of high-risk percutaneous coronary intervention with microaxial Impella® pump: results from the German Impella® registry

BACKGROUND: Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is an alternative strategy to coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) in patients with high perioperative risk. The microaxial Impella® pump (Abiomed, Danvers, MA, USA), used as prophylactic and temporary support, is currently the most common device for "protected high-risk PCI" to ensure hemodynamic stability during complex coronary intervention.

METHODS: The study is an observational, retrospective multi-center registry. Patients from nine tertiary hospitals in Germany, who have undergone protected high-risk PCI, are included in the present study.

RESULTS: A total of 154 patients (mean age 72.6-10.8 years, 75.3% male) were enrolled. The majority were at a high operative risk illustrated by a logistic EuroSCORE of 14.7-17.4. The initial SYNTAX score was 32.0-13.3, indicating very complex CAD and could be reduced to 14.1-14.3 (p < 0.0001) after PCI. The main reasons for protected PCI were complex coronary anatomy (70.8%), personal impression (56.5%), reduced ventricular ejection fraction (49.4%), comorbidities (47.4%), and surgical turndown (30.5%). Four patients (2.6%) experienced an intrahospital death.

CONCLUSIONS: Data from the study show that protected PCI is a safe and effective approach to revascularize high-risk patients with complex coronary anatomy and comorbidities.