Thousands of myocardial infarction patients could be saved by a new device shaped like a tiny parachute, the Daily Mail reported Monday. The implant—called the Parachute—deploys once it is inside the heart, sealing off the area of muscle damaged during the heart attack. This allows the heart’s pumping chamber to more easily pump blood throughout the body and stops the heart muscle from becoming even more damaged.
Researchers who developed the Parachute hope the device might even save patients from needing a heart transplant.
According to the Daily Mail, the Parachute is being used in a clinical trial at Papworth Hospital Cambridge and University College Hospital in London, where it has proven to keep damaged hearts healthy enough to help patients avoid surgery and have good quality of life.
The device is inserted through a tiny incision in the groin using a catheter while the patient is under local anesthetic. Then, once inside the body, the closed Parachute travels through blood vessels until it reaches the left ventricle of the heart. It is positioned at the bottom part of the chamber, where half of all heart attacks occur, and then deployed.
Developers say the Parachute works by cutting the size of this left ventricle and thus reducing strain on an already compromised heart.
Members of the British Heart Foundation have reacted positively to the device.
“A major problem for people with congestive heart failure is the heart not pumping efficiently,” said Jeremy Pearson, associate medical director with the group. “Current medical treatments help, but are often limited in their effectiveness. This procedure could provide an additional and novel way to help people with heart failure.”
