Interventional cardiologists Rishi Sukhija, MD, and Joseph Rosenblum, DO, are shown in LaPorte Hospital's Heart and Vascular Institute.

   The Heart and Vascular Institute (HVI) of LaPorte Regional Health System offers cutting-edge technology to save the lives of critically ill patients.

   The world’s smallest heart pump, Abiomed’s Impella 2.5 heart pump, is one of many heart and vascular treatment options available to patients who have heart attacks or cardiac failure.

   The Heart and Vascular Institute is the first in LaPorte and St. Joseph counties, and one of only 12 percent of the nation’s hospitals to offer the life-saving device.

   Impella is inserted through a large artery in the thigh into the left ventricle of the heart in a matter of minutes at LaPorte Hospital. The pump temporarily relieves the heart’s pumping function and provides much-needed time for life-saving intervention.

   Director of the Heart and Vascular Institute and Interventional Cardiologist Joseph Rosenblum, DO, said, “We are committed to improving patient outcomes and understand the importance in enabling patients to return home with healthy hearts. Procedures are safer, and we can treat very sick patients in a way they couldn’t be treated before.”

   The pump provides support five times faster with three to five times more blood flow than other devices. Rishi Sukhija, MD, who performs the procedure to insert Impella, said, “Impella is a breakthrough in technology that offers cardiologists a minimally-invasive approach in cardiac treatment with seamless, immediate circulatory support for critical patients.”

   For more information, visit www.my-heart.org.