General anesthesia places patients who are in cardiogenic shock at risk for life threatening hemodynamic compromise due to the anesthetic and positive pressure ventilation, and confers the need for mechanical ventilation and sedation post operatively.~Our hypothesis is that by utilizing regional anesthesia, anesthesiologists can facilitate surgical Impella placement with less risk of cardiovascular collapse with a faster road to recovery. By avoiding endotracheal intubation and concomitant heavy sedation both in the operating room and ICU, these patients will avoid worsening deconditioning and ICU delirium, with less days to physical therapy, ambulation, and recovery as compared to patients who undergo general anesthesia and remain ventilated in the ICU after their Impella placement.~Patients scheduled for Impella 5.5 placement will be screened by a specific set of inclusion/exclusion criteria for potential participation in the study. If they consent, they will receive three commonly used upper extremity nerve blocks (Interscalene, PECS II, and superficial cervical plexus nerve blocks) and receive only intravenous sedation during the procedure.
The Abiomed Impella 5.5 is a surgically placed temporary mechanical support device used in patients in cardiogenic shock. The investigators propose using regional anesthesia (3 separate peripheral nerve blocks) to facilitate Impella 5.5 placement, a procedure which has traditionally been performed under a general anesthetic.~Regional anesthesia is a proven and widely used technique to facilitate upper extremity vascular surgery cases (i.e. arteriovenous fistula creation). The investigators believe that employing these blocks in conjunction with intravenous sedation or monitored anesthesia care (MAC anesthesia) - a technique used in all types of cases, even in sick hearts during thranscatheter aortic valve replacements (TAVR) - will avoid the need increased doses of medications to support the blood pressure and cardiac output, avoid the need for post operative mechanical ventilation and intravenous sedation, and speed up the time to participating in physical therapy, time to heart transplant/durable mechanical support/recovery, and time to hospital discharge.