Implant for Patients with Heart Failure

Kahwash and Ohio State cardiologist Dr. Scott Lilly are part of a multi-center study that's evaluating a dime-size implant intended to relieve the high pressure created by blood backing up from the heart into the lungs. During a heart catheterization, doctors create a small path between the left and right upper chambers of the heart. They insert the tiny, inter-atrial shunt device to keep the path open to divert some of the blood from the high pressure left atrial chamber to the low pressure right atrial chamber. This could potentially lower the pressure in the left upper chamber, decrease the pressure in the lungs and thereby improve the symptoms of heart failure.