Efficacy and Safety of PARACHUTE® Device: systematic review

Heart failure due to an acute myocardial infarction is a very frequent event, with a tendency to increase according to improvements in the treatment of acute conditions which have led to larger numbers of infarction survivors.

The aim of this study is to synthesize the evidence, through a systematic review, on efficacy and safety of the device in patients with this basic condition.

Studies published between January 2002 and October 2016 were analysed, having as reference databases Embase, Medline, Cochrane Library, Lilacs, Web of Science and Scopus. The selection of studies, data extraction and methodological quality assessment of studies were examined by two independent reviewers, with disagreements resolved by consensus.

Only prospective studies without control group were identified. Six studies were included, with averages of 34 participants and follow-up of 13 months. Clinical, functional, hemodynamic and quality of life outcomes were evaluated. The highest mortality rate was 8.4% with 12-month follow-up for unspecified cardiovascular reasons, and heart failure rehospitalization was 29.4% with 36-month follow-up. Statistically significant improvements were found only in some of the studies which evaluating changes in left ventricular volume indices, the distance measured by the six-minute walk test, New York Heart Association functional classification, and quality of life, in pre and post-procedure analysis.

The present review indicates that no available quality evidence can assert efficacy and safety of PARACHUTE® in the treatment of heart failure after apical or anterior wall myocardial infarction.