Zhongshan Hospital and magAssist Percutaneous Ventricular Assist Device Cooperation Kick-off Meeting Successfully Held

On August 25, 2020, magAssist Inc. (hereinafter referred to as magAssist) and Zhongshan Hospital Affiliated with Fudan University (hereinafter referred to as Zhongshan Hospital) launched a cooperation kick-off meeting on the project of percutaneous ventricular assist device at the National Radiology & Therapeutic Clinical Medicine Research Center of Zhongshan hospital.

Over 20 experts attended the kick-off meeting. The clinical expert team was led by Prof. Junbo Ge, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Director of Shanghai Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases and Director of the Department of Cardiology of Zhongshan Hospital, and the R&D team led by Professor Polin Hsu, founder, and CEO of magAssist.

Clinical and R&D team members

At the kick-off meeting, both parties introduced their teams, followed by a lively discussion on the principle prototype presented by magAssist. Prof. JunBo Ge and his team provide suggestions on the technical solutions for the development of the percutaneous ventricular assist device to meet clinical scenarios. The meeting also established clinical indicators, design goals, and R&D plans for future development. 

More than one million coronary intervention operations are performed in China each year. With the progress of society and the aging population, the number of operations is increasing each year and the patients' conditions are becoming increasingly complex. The percutaneous ventricular assist device can insert a miniaturized blood pump into the patient's aorta through peripheral vascular intervention, to provide rapid and non-invasive circulatory assistance in the event of cardiac pump failure. For the intra-operative cardiac protection of high-risk coronary interventions and patients with cardiogenic shock caused by acute myocardial infarction, it is undoubtedly a strong line of defense against death, and the most challenging technology among all cardiovascular interventional devices.

Zhongshan Hospital represents the top level of cardiology in China. Under the leadership of Academician Ge, the expert team of Zhongshan Hospital continues to challenge the technical peak in the field of coronary intervention for the benefit of patients. Through the integration of medical and industrial advantages, Zhongshan Hospital and magAssist will strive together to overcome the "last mile" of cardiovascular interventional therapy, and jointly develop domestic high-end medical devices that serve the vast number of cardiovascular patients in China and the world.