Show #354 Airing Sunday, 8/27/06
Heart failure can leave you feeling tired and unable to enjoy an active quality of life. Today, Dr. James Hodsden, a cardiologist at Akron General Medical Center, joins us to discuss an exciting new treatment that can literally squeeze energy back into the life of heart patients.
Question: Briefly, what is heart failure?
Answer: Heart Failure is a complication of virtually all forms of heart disease and occurs when the heart fails to pump blood efficiently to the tissue or must pump with higher energy costs.
Question: If someone is suffering from heart failure, what treatments are typical?
Answer: The American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association have published an expert consensus statement which recommends medication or devices which not only improve symptoms (shortness of breath or fatigue) but also delays the progression of the disease.
Question: I understand that there's a more unusual treatment called external counterpulsation therapy that can be used both as a supplemental treatment for those with heart failure and those who suffer from angina (chest pain). Can you explain what it is?
Answer: External counterpulsation therapy, or ECP, was approved in 1995 for treating angina and has now been approved as a supplemental treatment for heart failure.
ECP is a safe, noninvasive outpatient treatment which involves wrapping oversized blood pressure cuffs around the calves, thighs and hips. These cuffs inflate in timing with the cardiac cycle to augment blood flow while the heart rests.
ECP helps promote the heart's efficiency by reducing its resistance to pumping. It also improves oxygen utilization and blood vessel health.
Question: What are some of the benefits?
Answer: It improves the patients' stamina. They can do more.
For those with chest pains/angina, there is a significant reduction of their use of nitroglycerine.
The biological effects of ECP therapy lasts longer than the treatment itself.
Question; How often would a patient come in for this therapy?
Answer: Patients come in for a group of successive treatment. Typically, therapy lasts 5 days/week for 7 weeks. The treatments last 1 and 2 hours.
Question: Is this something for anyone with heart failure?
Answer: Yes. ECP is for people who are very symptomatic — who are very tired and who have major functional limitations. Just as with medication and interventions, the sooner you start treatment, the better the results and outcomes.
The mission of the American Heart Association is to reduce death and disability from heart disease with the emphasis on disability as it applies to ECP.
It is really gratifying to see how people respond to this treatment. It's a way to deal with a chronic problem and avoid unnecessary hospitalizations.
Question: Who pays?
Answer: Picked up by most insurance and Medicare.
Question: I understand this is newly approved in the U.S., but has been used for a long time by the Chinese?
Answer: Yes. Been around, but not approved for angina until 1995. Recently approved for heart failure too.
Externalcounterpulsation therapy can really improve the quality of life for those with heart failure and angina. To learn more about the process, give Akron General Medical Center a call at the number that's next. My thanks to Dr. James Hodsden.
