Parachute implant: CT morphological criteria of our center to identify the suitable patient.

Summary Aims In this study, we present and discuss our institutionalized and standardized computed tomography (CT) morphological criteria for the treatment of patients with a parachute device. Methods and Results After clinical and echocardiographic screening of 79 patients with ischemic heart failure, 28 were examined using multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) to assess their suitability for treatment with a parachute implant. From the 28 examined patients, nine were suitable for parachute implantation. Within the group of excluded patients, the cardiac diameters of one-third of the patients were too large, whereas for another third they were too small. Approximately 20% of the patients were rejected because of a deep insertion of the papillary muscles. Further reasons included left ventricular bands as well as mismatches between CT and echocardiographic measurements of left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF). Conclusions To ensure a safe parachute device implantation in patients with ischemic heart failure, only the CT at present offers the capability to obtain complete and dynamic three-dimensional (3D) measurements of the cardiac dimensions.