What's new in Chest Pain Management?

If you are a patient with angina, you should know that there is a noninvasive treatment that may help you enjoy an active and vital life once again.

Many people who have received EECP® Treatment have been able to return to work, garden, travel, or enjoy golf, tennis, or bowling once again.

EECP®Treatment, an outpatient therapy offering help and hope, may prevent or relieve attacks of angina.

If you have chest pain and are anxious about the possibility of undergoing bypass surgery or angioplasty... You might want to consider a non-surgical alternative.

A treatment for angina called EECP® Therapy doesn’t require invasive procedures. It’s performed in 35 one-hour sessions — and you can go home immediately after each one.

Patients say that EECP® Therapy is comfortable. In fact, they sometimes read, listen to music or even fall asleep during treatment. Many will tell you that EECP® Therapy has changed their lives for the better.

WHAT IS EECP?

Enhanced External Counterpulsation may stimulate the opening, or formation of, small branches of blood vessels (collaterals) to create natural bypass around narrowed or blocked arteries.

The term "Enhanced External Counterpulsation" describes what will happen during treatment.

"Enhanced" refers to the equipment that has evolved over decades of research and development to become the state-of-the-art delivery system now used in EECP® centers.

"External" means treatment is applied outside your body and does not require surgery.

"CounterPulsation" The EECP® system compresses your lower limbs to increase blood flow toward your heart. Each wave of pressure is electronically timed to your heartbeat, so that the increased blood flow is delivered to your heart at the precise moment it is relaxing. When the heart pumps again, pressure is released instantaneously. This lowers resistance in the blood vessels of your legs so that blood may be pumped more easily from the heart, decreasing the amount of work required of your heart muscle.

During counterpulsation the EECP® system pumps when your heart is resting and releases pressure when your heart is working.

Clinical Benefits

Clinical trials have confirmed the benefits of EECP® treatment. They include: symptomatic relief of angina unresponsive to medical therapy, improved blood flow to deprived areas of heart muscle demonstrated by the results of thallium stress testing, elimination or reduction of nitrate use, improved ability to exercise.

In a 3-year, follow-up study, the majority of patients remained free of angina and showed persistent improvements in their thallium scans. Patients and their families usually report noticeably greater ability to engage in daily activity.

Patients usually receive EECP® treatment for 35 hours divided into one or two 60-minute treatment sessions five days per week. Patients who undergo two treatment sessions in one day rest between sessions.

EECP® treatment uses unique equipment to inflate and deflate a series of pneumatic compressive cuffs around the lower extremities. Treatment is administered on a padded table where three sets of electronically controlled inflation and deflation valves are located. These valves are connected to specially designed adjustable cuffs that are wrapped firmly, but comfortably around the patient's calves, lower thighs, and upper thighs, including the buttocks. The design of the cuffs permits significant pressure to be applied to the arteries and veins at relatively low air pressures. Timing for inflation and deflation is regulated by running electrocardiogram signals through a microprocessor that monitors the treatment process.

While the heart is at rest the cuffs are inflated in rapid sequence from the calves upward, creating a pressure wave that increases diastolic pressure, coronary artery perfusion pressure, and blood flow to the heart muscle. This compression of the blood vessels in the legs also increases the volume of blood returned to the right side of the heart via the venous system. Instantaneous deflation of all cuffs at the onset of the heart's contraction lowers the resistance the heart must pump against, decreasing the heart's work load. This latter effect, when coupled with increased venous return, significantly raises cardiac output. The overall effect is to increase the oxygen supply of the heart, while decreasing its oxygen demand.

Significant obstruction in one or more coronary arteries can create a pressure difference between areas of the heart muscle that receive and those that do not receive enough blood. Repeated and pulsed increases in pressure during diastole may stimulate opening of collateral channels across this pressure gradient within the heart muscle, resulting in increased blood supply to deprived tissues.

You should discuss these issues with your current healthcare provider or you may contact us for more information or to schedule an appointment with our specialist.