CardioBridge's foldable heart pump may change paradigm for cardiac support
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
German company CardioBridge is making progress with a first-in-man trial of what it claims could become the most powerful heart pump capable of being implanted in a "truly" minimally invasive fashion. The device is called the Reitan Catheter Pump (RCP). It has been developed to fill the gap that exists between what the firm describes as the "less effective" percutaneous intra-aortic balloon pumps (IABPs) and the "expensive and invasive" left ventricular assist devices (LVADs), which are implanted surgically. It is intended to provide short-term circulatory support throughout periods of impaired left or right ventricular function.