Dr. Babar Basir: Importance of Timing to MCS Insertion in Cardiogenic Shock

Babar Basir, D.O., discusses the importance of the timing to MCS insertion, when needed, in patients with cardiogenic shock. In the National Cardiogenic Shock Initiative (NCSI) study there were 80 centers: 38 academic centers and 42 community-based programs. “Those community-based programs had Impella® available to them, were able to treat these patients very quickly and that manifested into having good outcomes,” Dr. Basir explains. “And so it was really, really a fundamental principle in getting good outcomes.”

“I think it is really important to note that most STEMI patients don’t present to tertiary care advanced heart failure transplant centers,” Dr. Basir emphasizes. “They present in the community-based programs. So we really have to get these therapies available to the clinicians who are treating those patients.”