‘World’s smallest heart pump’ used for angioplasty

Doctors at AIG Hospitals used the ‘world’s smallest heart pump’ while performing angioplasty on a high-risk patient recently. Uday Kiran Anne said the heart pump is as thick as a pen. It was inserted

Doctors at AIG Hospitals used the ‘world’s smallest heart pump’ while performing angioplasty on a high-risk patient recently. Uday Kiran Anne said the heart pump is as thick as a pen. It was inserted through groin artery and removed at the end of around three-hour procedure. The patient was discharged three days after the surgery and his condition was stable. The 70-year-old male patient was admitted at the hospital on June 14 complaining of breathlessness, chest pain, and severe weakness. After primary diagnosis with ECG and ECHO, the patient was diagnosed with heart failure and severely decreased heart pumping. Patient was stabilised and angiogram was done which further revealed all three main arteries of the heart, including left main coronary artery, were severely blocked. He was a post-liver transplant patient who had co-morbidities including hypertension, anaemia, and acute kidney injury.