November 13, 2023- Abbott announced in a late-breaking data presentation at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions that for the first time an aspirin-free regimen can improve outcomes for people living with its HeartMate 3 heart pump by reducing hospitalizations without increasing the risk of blood clot.
The findings, which were simultaneously published in The Journal of the American Medical Association, could potentially shift how physicians manage patients with a heart pump and possibly other cardiac diseases.
These findings are important because:
- According to experts, there is a general consensus within the medical community that aspirin use should be a mandatory part of the treatment regimen for people with a heart pump however, those assumptions were largely driven by observational data that have rarely been challenged.
- The Abbott HeartMate 3 patients who did not take aspirin spent 47% fewer days in the hospital due to a nearly 40% decrease in bleeding events compared to patients who continued to take aspirin daily.
- One year after receiving the heart pump, there was a 41% reduction in estimated patient costs related to bleeding events. The data also found this same group had no elevated risk in developing thrombosis (a blood clot that increases the risk of stroke).