Non invasive Treatment for heart Disease Enhanced External Counterpulsation(EECP)

[Guest guest]

Mainstream Media is finally picking up on this safe non-invasive treatment for

heart disease--AND its often covered by Insurance!!

Arnold

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Passing on bypass - Non-surgical procedure put the squeeze on heart

patients

Warth

North County Times

Quijada walked around the San Diego Zoo on Tuesday. He recently

returned from a trip to Florida's Disney World and delights in telling how he

bounced his grandson on his knee. He regularly goes for long walks around his

neighborhood in Carlsbad.

A few months ago, Quijada couldn't walk across the street without getting

winded.

" Now, I can do anything, " he said. " I can walk 10 miles. "

Quijada, 73, was suffering from angina pectoris, or blocked arteries,

which prevents oxygen from reaching the heart, causing chest pain, shortness of

breath and other serious problems.

Three stents had been put into his arteries to hold them open, and all

three had been rejected by his body, Quijada said. Finally, he heard about

Enhanced External Counterpulsation, a non-surgical procedure that increases

blood flow toward the heart. It causes new blood vessels called collaterals to

grow, creating in effect an organic bypass.

Studies of the procedure show it has a success rate as high as 85 percent,

and heart specialists are seeing it as a serious alternative to major surgery.

The initial reaction from physicians, however, often is skepticism.

" I thought it was a joke, " Dr. lin L. said about his first

reaction to hearing about EECP treatment.

But , a cardiologist and clinical professor of medicine at UCLA, now

is sold on the procedure and believes it can replace 90 percent of bypass

surgeries.

" The surgeons will not be happy with this, but the patients will, " he

said.

's initial skepticism is understandable, considering that the

procedure sounds like something hyped on a late-night infomercial.

Imagine the body being squeezed like a tube of toothpaste, from the feet

to the thighs, as a way of forcing blood toward the heart.

Patients lie on a table with pressure cuffs ---- inflatable bands similar

to the ones strapped on arms to take blood-pressure readings ---- secured around

their calves, lower thighs and upper thighs.

The pneumatic cuffs inflate and deflate in sequence, first over the calves

and then the thighs. The cuffs, synchronized with an electrocardiogram machine,

are activated when the heart is at rest, between beats. Pressure on the cuffs is

light in the first sessions but increases gradually until the patient's body

jerks during the procedure.

In North County, the treatment is provided by Cardiac Renewal Center in

Oceanside, which opened in 2000. Legendary singer ie Laine underwent the

procedure at that clinic in 2001.

Patients go for 35 one-hour treatments over six or seven weeks. The

treatment requires a physician's prescription and costs between $5,000 and

$6,000, but is covered by most insurance.

While the centers still are relatively new, the procedure dates to the

1960s, when therapists used it to increase blood flow in patients who had

suffered heart attacks. At the time, nobody realized the heart would respond to

the forced blood flow by growing new vessels.

" They didn't know that it would do this, but they indeed found out, "

said.

Intress, director of sales and marketing for Cardiac Renewal

Centers in Pacific Palisades, said EECP therapy was first created about 50 years

ago in the United States, but since then has been used mostly in China, Japan

and Europe.

The Food and Drug Administration approved it for the United States in

1995, and in January 2000, Medi-Cal approved its coverage.

The first Cardiac Renewal Center opened in Los Angeles two years ago with

six beds, and today there are 10 locations, all within southern California. The

company is the largest provider of the beds used in the treatment, but it does

not have exclusive rights to the procedure. A cardiologist group can buy a bed

and open a center, for instance, and at least two other companies also provide

the treatment.

While said heart surgeons may not be pleased with a device that

could cause them to lose patients, Intress said Cardiac Renewal Center regional

managers are trying to educate physicians about EECP in hopes they will refer

more patients for the treatment.

" When a new product comes out, there's a lot of fear about how it will

affect their patients, " said Intress. But physicians should overcome that fear

and be open to EECP, Intress said, because not all of their patients are

candidates for surgery, and an alternative treatment could be a matter of life

or death.

The treatment is painless ---- it's been called more uncomfortable for

people watching it than doing it ---- and patients often pass the hour listening

to music on headphones or even napping.

But more important than that for Quijada, the procedure works.

Quijada first tried to cure his painful angina, caused by a artery that

was 99 percent blocked, five years ago. After his body rejected the three

stents, he had a quadruple bypass operation in 1997. But by 2001, one of the

bypass arteries had failed.

" I wasn't getting any blood in there, " he said. " I was going downhill. "

In June, Quijada was wearing nitroglycerin patches, but he still was in

pain and getting weaker.

" By August, I couldn't walk around the block, " he said. " If I walked

across the street, I had to take a nitroglycerin pill under my tongue. "

Quijada first heard about EECP from a doctor he knows from his church. He

asked his cardiologist for a prescription, and his treatment began in October

and was completed Dec. 3.

" My first thought was, if it sounds too good to be true, maybe it is, "

Quijada admitted. " I thought it was like rubbing chicken bones over it. "

The treatments didn't hurt, but Quijada said he felt exhausted after

coming home from the first five.

" About the seventh treatment, I started to feel better, " he said. " After

the 15th treatment, I walked from our house down to Mc's, close to seven

miles. "

Carlsbad resident Clara Kornher, also 73, is more than halfway through her

treatment. She is taking it as extra insurance after having seven stents

inserted, including five to open blocked heart arteries.

" I had every one of my arteries blocked, and I probably wouldn't have

lasted a year if I didn't have it done, " she said.

She has no complaints about the stents so far, but she said she didn't

feel any stronger after they were inserted. She and her daughter learned about

EECP from a news show, and she decided to try it to supplement the stents.

" I had to have help to walk across the room, " she said, even after the

stents were inserted. " I got a little better, but I couldn't get the mail. "

Kornher stopped walking with her senior group because of exhaustion, but

since starting the treatments she has begun again, attempting only a half mile

so far.

said most bypass surgeries could be treated instead with EECP, but

he said not everybody is a candidate for the treatment.

Those who should not have the treatment include those who have an aortic

aneurysm that requires surgical repair, severe or moderate aortic insufficiency

or recent blood clots, he said.

Other than those exceptions, said, " I would never recommend bypass

surgery for anybody. "

Contact staff writer Warth at (760) 740-5410 or gwarth@....

2/10/02

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