PHOENIX (AZFamily) — An Apache Junction man and his step-daughter are both diagnosed with heart disease and say the same device saved their lives. Both credit their recoveries to a heart pump that’s smaller than the width of a pencil.
Walking is much easier for Al Matthews these days, and that’s something his medical team at Banner Heart Hospital is happy to celebrate. Earlier this year, his heart was so weak that the Navy veteran could barely make it across a room.
“It was a million dollars worth of experience. I wouldn’t really give you two cents to do it again though,” Matthews said with a laugh about his time in the Navy. He is 77 years old and has had heart disease for a while, but late last year, things took a turn when he was walking his dog.
“All of a sudden it was like somebody was pinching off my right arm,” said Matthews.
That’s where cardiologist Dr. Satya Atmakuri comes into the picture. He says Matthews’ heart was not getting enough blood flow, all of his arteries were clogged, and he needed a stent. But his heart wasn’t strong enough to pump on its own during the procedure, and Impella saved the day.
“If you have a pool that you want to drain, drop a pool pump, and that sucks the water out of the pool and puts it outside, right. So, it’s the same concept where this device has an inlet, a motor, and a outlet, and the device sucks the blood from the heart chamber and puts ‘it in the circulation,” said Dr. Atmakuri.
See the full segment: Small heart pump saves lives of two generations in one Apache Junction family
