BOSTON -- Of the 1 million angioplasty cases in the U.S., up to 10 percent are considered high risk. But a new device is improving treatment for those patients. As NewsCenter 5's Liz Brunner reported Wednesday, St. Elizabeth's Medical Center is the only Boston hospital using the world's smallest heart pump.

New Device Helping Heart Patients

Just being able to water the flowers is a blessing for Kim Zeoli, of Weymouth, Mass. Zeoli survived two heart attacks in 1991, and battled other health problems, only to learn recently that her heart was still failing.

"They found out I had congestive heart failure," she said.

According to her doctors, blocked arteries in her legs put her at high-risk for heart failure during surgery. But the world's smallest heart pump, made by Danvers-based Abiomed, helped increase her odds of getting through a high-risk angioplasty procedure.

"It supports the ventricle in high risk cardiac cases," said. Dr. Faisal Kahn, the associate director of the Cardiac Catheterization Lab at St. Elizabeth's Medical Center.

St. Elizabeth's Medical Center is first Boston hospital to use the FDA improved Impella. Kahn has used the device on two patients since the Food and Drug Administration approved it Impella. Kahn said it is inserted into the groin through a blood vessel into the heart, and sits within the left ventricle.

"It's able to suck blood out of the ventricle and push it back into the heart, doing what the left ventricle would be doing. And in a very sick patient, whose heart is not doing what it's supposed to, that then takes over that role," he said.

He said the heart therefore uses less energy and less oxygen, improving the patient's outcome.

"I have been living on 35 percent of my heart and it's been awful. I can't do anything anymore. And now I'm feeling it's coming back, and I'm going to be all right," Zeoli said.