The first medical device designed to help weak heart pumping better also can enlarge it to a more normal size and shape

Sunday, January 24, 2021

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The first medical device designed to help weak heart pumping better also can enlarge it to a more normal size and shape, a study has found. About 150 heart failure patients who got this novel and incredibly simple device felt better, were less likely to need heart transplants or other operations, and improved in other ways when compared with people who did not get the fabric wrap. "There was a 75 per cent overall improvement. It is a sort of breakthrough technology," Dr Douglas Mann, the Baylor College of Medicine cardiologist, said, as The Australian reported. "The CorCap Cardiac Support Device helps an enlarged heart recover a more normal size and shape. As a result, patients feel better and require fewer costly medical interventions to treat their heart failure," commented Dr. Mann. "These clinical trial results should bring hope to thousands of heart failure patients whose lives have been severely affected by this debilitating disease. CorCap CSD therapy could improve outcomes for the many patients who are not helped by drugs alone", informs Medical News Today. About five million Americans have heart failure and, of those, up to 25 percent may be candidates for the device, Mann said. The device seems to work by "encouraging" the heart to become more elliptical in shape and exerting gentle pressure on the organ to relieve stress, he explained. "When you relieve stress on the failing heart, you allow it to rest," he added. "This allows it to regain more of a normal size and shape and therefore allows it to function more efficiently." Currently, certain drugs and electrical therapies do help treat remodeling, but this would be the first implantable device. CapCor is not for people with extremely advanced heart disease or mild coronary disease, he cautioned, but for those with moderate to severe disease. This generally means people who become short of breath walking up a flight of stairs, cooking or making the bed, according to the Forbes News.

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