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# Abiomed’s Impella Heart Pump Gets ‘Breakthrough’
- URL: https://www.fdaweb.com/abiomeds-impella-heart-pump-gets-breakthrough/
- Published: 2021-08-18T12:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-14T17:10:58.000Z
- Author: David McFarland
- Tags: Devices, #legacy-id-D5149961

FDA has granted a breakthrough designation to Abiomed’s [Impella ECP](https://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.abiomed.com%2Fabout-us%2Fnews-and-media%2Fpress-releases%2Ffirst-patients-treated-worlds-smallest-heart-pump-9fr-impella-ecp&esheet=52478631&newsitemid=20210818005373&lan=en-US&anchor=Impella+ECP&index=2&md5=256cfbafb82b5e7dbf3453a500786a39&ref=fdaweb.com) expandable percutaneous heart pump. The device is placed percutaneously into the heart’s left ventricle to expand and support the heart’s pumping function, providing flow greater than 3.5 L/min, the company says. Impella ECP is the smallest heart pump in the world and the first to be compatible with small bore access and closure techniques, it says. It measures 3 millimeters in diameter upon insertion and removal from the body, but while in the heart, it expands to support the pumping function.