Right Heart Failure

Patient Management

Importance of Identifying Right Ventricular Failure (RVF) Early

  • RVF can occur after acute myocardial infarction (AMI), after durable LVAD implantation, post-cardiotomy or post-transplant
  • RVF increases the risk of cardiogenic shock, high-grade atrioventricular-conduction block and in-hospital mortality1
  • RVF can lead to longer ICU stays, higher short-term mortality and worsening end-organ dysfunction

Patient Management Topics

 

Purge System Management Video Series

See how to change the purge cassette, purge fluid bag and more.

 

Heparin-Free Purge: Bicarbonate Based Purge Solution

A bicarbonate-based purge solution for Impella® may be a viable alternative to heparin-based purge solution in patients who are heparin-intolerant and when heparin is contraindicated.

 

Weaning and Escalation

Tim Larkin, MD, describes his weaning protocol for the Impella RP® heart pump during this physician Q&A session.

Handling Impella RP® with SmartAssist® Suction Alarms

Suction is most often caused by inadequate preload or malposition.

As with all other Impella® heart pumps, if a suction alarm occurs:

  1. Decrease P-level to break suction.
  2. Evaluate patient volume status. Maintain a positive CVP.
  3. Check Impella RP with SmartAssist position and adjust as needed using chest X-ray, fluoroscopy, or echocardiography.
  4. When suction is resolved, return to previous P-level.

 

If position and preload are acceptable and suction cannot be resolved at P-2 or P-3, momentarily stop Impella RP with SmartAssist to break the suction event and restart immediately.

 

Note that this is different from handling suction alarms with other left-sided Impella heart pumps. This does not replace the Instructions for Use manual.

Additional Services

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Impella Connect®

Your cloud-based, remote monitoring of Impella heart pump status to help improve patient outcomes. With Impella Connect, authorized hospital staff can review cases at any time from any internet-connected device.

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Clinical Support Center

Your on-call resource for 24/7 clinical and technical support. Contact the Clinical Support Center (CSC) at
1-800-422-8666 for patient management expertise to help you achieve the best possible patient outcomes.

Additional Resources

Explore the education library for more tips and tricks.

References

  1. Mehta, S.R., et al. (2001). J Am Coll Cardiol, 37(1), 37-43.

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