Impella Assisted Angioplasty: Light at the End of the Tunnel

The Impella

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For a 65-year-old patient, life took an unexpected turn when he began experiencing severe chest pain and breathlessness during his normal morning walks. As a man who had always been active, he found himself struggling to breathe, even while performing the simplest tasks. His long walks had turned into quick, shallow gasps for air with every step. His symptoms intensified, prompting immediate medical help.

At a leading healthcare facility in India, a renowned team of doctors diagnosed his triple vessel coronary artery disease (CAD) with severe calcification of his arteries—critical for blood flow to the heart—were severely blocked, making surgery almost impossible to perform.

To tackle such high-risk cases, the recommended procedures—Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting (CABG) were ruled out as too risky. The Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI) had its own set of complications, and his options seemed limited.

As his condition worsened, the patient began to lose hope. He was turned down for surgery due to high risk. He was told that surgery was too dangerous, and his heart was too weak for further intervention. It seemed like his only option was to wait and accept that fate. In his search for a solution, his family consulted and took him to an admired cardiologist, Dr. Rajneesh Kapoor, Chairman of Interventional Cardiology at Medanta—The Medicity in Gurugram. Dr. Kapoor, known for his expertise in complex cardiac cases, was his last hope.

The Game-Changing Solution