Parachute implant: CT morphological criteria of our center to identify the suitable patient

Aims: In this study, we present and discuss our institutionalized and standardized computed tomography (CT) morphological criteria for the treatment of patients with a parachute device.

Methods and results: After clinical and echocardiographic screening of 79 patients with ischemic heart failure, 28 were examined using multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) to assess their suitability for treatment with a parachute implant. From the 28 examined patients, nine were suitable for parachute implantation. Within the group of excluded patients, the cardiac diameters of one-third of the patients were too large, whereas for another third they were too small. Approximately 20% of the patients were rejected because of a deep insertion of the papillary muscles. Further reasons included left ventricular bands as well as mismatches between CT and echocardiographic measurements of left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF).

Conclusions: To ensure a safe parachute device implantation in patients with ischemic heart failure, only the CT at present offers the capability to obtain complete and dynamic three-dimensional (3D) measurements of the cardiac dimensions.