NEWS
RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Bobbie Boyd, Director of Public Relations
& Community Outreach
Advanced Cardiac Specialists
Cell Phone: (602) 570-7069 E-mail:
bobbie.boyd@acs-im.com
NEW
HOPE
FOR
ANGINA
PATIENTS
SUFFERING
FROM
A
HEART
THAT
LITERALLY
CAN'T
BREATHE
Counterpulsation Treatment Creates Natural Bypass to
Oxygen Starved Heart
Gilbert, Arizona (August
12, 2003) - Patients suffering from angina pectoris, or “strangling in the
chest”, literally have a heart that can’t breathe. This is the most common symptom of coronary artery disease and
may include chest pain, shortness of breath, fatigue, indigestion, faintness,
or pain in the jaw. Usually triggered
by physical exertion or emotional stress, angina occurs when the heart muscle
needs more oxygen than is available from the blood supply nourishing the
heart. This usually happens because
narrowed or blocked arteries are restricting the flow of blood.
Angina is usually
controlled by medication that helps increase the supply of oxygen to the heart
muscle by dilating coronary vessels or decreasing the demand for oxygen. Unfortunately, in most patients, medication
becomes less effective over time.
Angioplasty or coronary artery bypass surgery is usually recommended, if
medication fails to ease angina, or if the risk of heart attack is high. However, some patients are in such advanced
stages of coronary artery disease, they are not suitable candidates for
angioplasty or bypass surgery, leaving them with no treatment options and a
life of suffering.
There is an alternative -
a noninvasive treatment that works in harmony with the patient’s heart and can
improve circulation to the heart muscle.
Enhanced External CounterpulsationÒ (EECP) treatment
stimulates the opening and expansion of new, natural pathways of small blood
vessels that create new routes for blood to reach the oxygen-starved heart
muscle by creating a detour around clogged arteries.
This is a noninvasive,
outpatient procedure. During treatment,
patients lie on a padded table with electronically controlled inflation and
deflation valves. These valves are
connected to blood pressure-like cuffs that are wrapped around the patient’s
calves, lower and upper thighs. The
cuffs are inflated rapidly in progression from the calves to the lower thighs
to the upper thighs, while the heart is at rest between beats. The cuffs are deflated just before the heart
beats. The result is an increased
supply of blood pumped to the heart muscle with no additional demand on the
heart’s workload.
While results may vary,
the treatments may reduce or even eliminate angina/chest pain, decrease the
need for medication, alleviate the need for angioplasty or bypass surgery, and
return the patient to a more active lifestyle.
Patients are again able to do things others take for granted, like
walking up a flight of stairs.
Advanced Cardiac
Specialists provides EECPÒ treatments at their Gilbert office. The practice has also been selected as a
research site for evaluation of EECPÒ treatments on other
aspects of heart disease. ACS is a
statewide network of Cardiology and Internal Medicine physicians with Robert M.
Siegel, M.D. as Medical Director and Chief of Cardiovascular Services.