Overview
- The randomized DTU trial, presented Saturday at the ACC Scientific Sessions and published in JACC, found no significant reduction in heart damage when an Impella pump was placed before PCI.
- The study enrolled 527 people with anterior STEMI at 55 emergency rooms in five countries and compared delayed stenting after pump insertion with immediate stenting.
- Major bleeding and blood vessel problems occurred in 30.8% of patients who received the device, which exceeded the trial’s predefined safety goal.
- Despite about a 47-minute longer time to reopen the blocked artery in the device group, infarct size did not increase, a result investigators say may reflect some protective effect.
- Impella CP is FDA-approved and used for cardiogenic shock, and this Abiomed-funded trial now steers research toward pairing unloading with blood-pressure–lowering drugs or faster device removal.