First Patients Treated with the World’s Smallest Heart Pump, the 9Fr Impella ECP
28.10.2020 15:03:00 EET | Business Wire | Press release
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/
Impella ECP is the world’s smallest heart pump. (Graphic: Business Wire)
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.
To view this piece of content from cts.businesswire.com, please give your consent at the top of this page.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20201028005398/en/
Contact information
Sarah Karr
Communications Manager
978-882-8211
skarr@abiomed.com
About Business Wire
For more than 50 years, Business Wire has been the global leader in press release distribution and regulatory disclosure.
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
Align Partners Issues Formal Shareholder Proposals to Gabia13.2.2026 02:37:00 EET | Press release
Align Partners Capital Management Inc. (“Align Partners”), a shareholder of Gabia, Inc. (“Gabia” or the “Company”), has submitted formal shareholder proposals for inclusion in the agenda of Gabia’s upcoming 27th Annual General Meeting (“AGM”) and issued a call for strengthened governance practices to address the Company’s persistent undervaluation. Align Partners noted that, as shareholder proposals will be presented at this year’s AGM, Gabia should follow the Korea Exchange (KRX) Corporate Governance Key Indicators by publishing the AGM convocation notice at least four weeks prior to the meeting date. Align Partners emphasized that last year’s AGM notice was issued only 16 days before the meeting, limiting shareholders’ ability to adequately review the agenda and exercise informed voting rights. Gabia is widely recognized as a leading Korean IT services and cloud infrastructure company with solid operating performance. Despite these strengths, Align Partners believes the Company conti
Europe Launches Euro-Q-Exa Quantum Computer in Germany, Strengthening Sovereign Digital Infrastructure12.2.2026 22:15:00 EET | Press release
Euro-Q-Exa, the first EuroHPC Joint Undertaking quantum computer deployed in Germany, has been unveiled at the Leibniz Supercomputing Centre (LRZ) in Garching, Munich. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260212928399/en/ Silke Launert, Parliamentary State Secretary of the BMFTR; Dieter Kranzlmüller, Director of the LRZ; Maximilian Böltl, Member of the Bavarian State Parliament; Markus Blume, Bavarian Minister of State of Science and the Arts; Henna Virkkunen, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission for Technological Sovereignty, Security and Democracy; and Sylwia Barthel de Weydenthal, Chief Commercial Officer of IQM Quantum Computers (from the left). The deployment marks a significant step in Europe’s effort to build long-term quantum capability as part of its sovereign digital infrastructure, alongside world-leading high-performance computing (HPC). Installed, hosted, and operated at LRZ, Euro-Q-Exa
Sindre Zeiner-Gundersen Joins Joi Scientific12.2.2026 21:00:00 EET | Press release
Joi Scientific is pleased to welcome Sindre Zeiner-Gundersen as the company’s Advanced Plasma & Resonant Energy Physicist. Sindre will lead Joi’s scientific activities including all aspects of Joi’s science program. Sindre is a quantum physics expert who previously served as CEO/President of Nornec AS, a Norwegian consulting and engineering services company. Nornec has been a consultant to Joi since 2024. At Nornec, Sindre provided consulting and R&D services in the areas of advanced nuclear reactor simulations, process and plant optimization, carbon capture optimization, materials selection and radiation effects, custom reactor design, muon and neutron detector systems, muon and catalyzed fusion and Hydrogen Rydberg Matter research. An applied physicist with end‑to‑end expertise in energy‑carrier gases - ammonia, methanol, hydrogen - as well as a radiation instrumentation specialist with experience in process and equipment design across the ammonia/hydrogen value chain, Sindre has aut
Angelalign Technology Inc. (6699.HK) Says a Preliminary European Court Ruling on Certain Software Features Will Have Minimal Impact on Users12.2.2026 18:58:00 EET | Press release
Angelalign Technology Inc. (6699.HK) (“Angel”) said a ruling by the Unified Patent Court of Düsseldorf, Germany that it preliminarily cease its use of certain software functions that automatically update treatment plans would have minimal impact on the orthodontists and patients who use its clear aligner products. The ruling applies to certain European countries and excludes Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom and Ireland. Angel will launch iPlan for applicable European users, which is an upgrade feature that has the same reliability and more flexibility for users. Angel denies that the Live Now feature in its iOrtho treatment planning software infringes any valid patents of Align Technology Inc. (ALGN). Angel has already filed an opposition against the patent with the European Patent Office (EPO), arguing that the claimed invention is neither novel nor inventive over the prior art, and is seeking its permanent invalidation. Angel is confident it will overcome the first-instance, non-fi
Model ML Buys Captide to Give Financial AI Agents Citable Corporate Disclosure Data12.2.2026 18:43:00 EET | Press release
Model ML today announced the acquisition of Captide, the leading financial data layer that turns complex global corporate filings and disclosures into LLM-ready documents and data for AI agents. The acquisition, just weeks after the fintech raised $75m in funding from leading US and UK investors, expands Model ML’s AI workflow builder, enabling its AI agents to reliably retrieve, reason over, and cite global filings. Earlier in 2025, Model ML bought Flippr which added automated PowerPoint generation and verification agents to the platform. Founded in 2024 by Maurits Brinkman and Miquel Trafí Ruiz, Captide’s API takes SEC filings, earnings calls and more and structures them in a way AI models can easily and accurately understand at scale. Its platform already spans 2.5 million+ documents and supports 1 billion embeddings. By bringing Captide into Model ML, clients – including Big 4 accounting firms, consulting companies and top-tier global financial institutions – can now access this di
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