heart failure Archives - Amazing Health Advances

Alternatives to Heart Transplant? You Have Options

The AHA! Team — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 05:53:37 +0000

Morgan deBlecourt via Duke Health – “The good news is there are new therapies coming out every day,” said Dr. DeVore. “We can help find the option that’s right for you.” Heart transplantation can be a life-saving treatment for severe heart failure, but it’s a serious operation that requires a lifelong commitment. As a result, a heart transplant is not the best option for everyone. Fortunately, there are alternatives. “There are new therapies coming out every day,” said Adam DeVore, MD, a Duke transplant cardiologist and heart failure specialist. These new therapies can improve or help take over the heart’s function and prolong life. What Does A Heart Transplant Require? Most people who are eligible for a heart transplant have significant heart failure — a chronic condition in which your heart has trouble pumping blood — or another severe type of heart disease that could lead to death within one year. You may not be eligible for heart transplantation if you are over 70 years old or have other major health problems. Taking care of your new heart after transplant is a lifelong effort. For this reason, a heart transplant requires certain commitments, including abstaining from tobacco and illegal substances and limiting alcohol, attending frequent follow-up appointments, and taking anti-rejection and other medications. People who get a heart transplant need a strong support network, not only to help with recovery after the transplant surgery itself, but also to help coordinate appointments and long-term medications. If you aren’t eligible or if now is not the right time for heart transplantation, one of several alternatives may fit your needs. Ventricular Assist Devices Implantable left ventricular assist devices (also called VADs or LVADs) are mechanical pumps that help your heart supply blood to the rest of the body. They can extend a person’s life for years, either as they await transplant or as a definitive therapy in itself. LVADs have internal and external components. The pump is inserted into the heart during surgery. It takes blood from the left ventricle, the largest chamber of the heart that is most often weakened in people with heart failure, and pumps it directly into the aorta toward the rest of the body. The pump is connected to a controller outside of your body by a thin cord that exits through a small incision in the abdomen. Battery packs attach to the controller to power the device. Together the controller and battery packs weigh about five pounds. Living with a VAD takes some getting used to. You’ll need to always have a reliable power source available. You’ll also need to keep an eye out for infection. And although you can shower, you won’t be able to swim or take a bath, since the device can’t be submerged. Smaller LVADs Although LVADs are often used as a “bridge” to heart transplantation (meaning it supports the rest of your body while you wait for a heart transplant), advances in technology have made LVADs smaller, more portable, and more viable as a final treatment; doctors sometimes refer to this as “destination therapy.” Depending on the severity of heart failure, most people with an LVAD are able to get back to living life pretty close to normal. “Duke has been a pioneer in LVAD therapy. We have constantly worked to understand how to best care for these patients as the pumps have become more durable, smaller, and easier to implant, which all results in making it easier to have a normal life. We’re continuing to push the envelope from a technological perspective as well as a best-practice perspective,” said Duke advanced heart failure specialist and transplant cardiologist Stu Russell, MD. Artificial Heart Duke recently became the second center in the world to successfully implant a new form of mechanical heart pump known as the BiVACOR Total Artificial Heart (TAH). For people with heart failure of both the left and right sides of the heart, this device provides complete blood circulation for the entire body. Currently, the BiVACOR total artificial heart is only available as a temporary stabilizing option for people awaiting heart transplant surgery. However, pumps like these may also eventually serve as a permanent solution, similar to current LVAD treatments. Other Surgical Options for Heart Failure According to Dr. Adam DeVore, “heart failure” is an umbrella term for several heart conditions that lead to the heart failing. Depending on the underlying cause of your heart failure, surgery may be an option. For example, heart failure caused by coronary artery disease may benefit from coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery. It reroutes your heart’s blood flow around a blocked, damaged, or narrowed blood vessel. Damaged or diseased heart valves can be treated with valve surgery to improve the heart’s ability to move blood properly. Ultimately, these operations may not cure your heart disease, and you might still need an LVAD or heart transplant later. Heart Failure Medical Management Whether you have a transplant, get an LVAD, or undergo a different kind of heart surgery, you’ll still need to make lifestyle changes (healthy eating, exercise, etc.) and take medications that help slow your heart disease and reduce its symptoms. “The good news is there are new therapies coming out every day,” said Dr. DeVore. “We can help find the option that’s right for you.” To read the original article click here.

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Eating to Reverse Heart Failure

The AHA! Team — Mon, 10 Mar 2025 05:39:20 +0000

Michael Greger M.D. FACLM via Nutrition Facts – An entire issue of a cardiology journal dedicated to plant-based nutrition explores the role an evidence-based diet can play in the reversal of congestive heart failure. It is a hopeful sign of the times when an entire issue of a cardiology journal is not just dedicated to nutrition, but to a plant-based diet in particular. Dr. Kim Williams, past president of the American College of Cardiology, starts his editorial with a quote attributed to the philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer: “All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.” He goes on to write that “the truth (i.e., evidence) for the benefits of plant-based nutrition continues to mount.” We’ve got the evidence. The problem is the “inertia, culture, habit, and widespread marketing of unhealthy foods. Our goal must be to get the data out to the medical community and the public where it can actually change lives—creating healthier and longer ones.” That’s essentially my life’s mission in four words: Get the data out. Based on what we already know in the existing medical literature, “plant-based nutrition…clearly represents the single most important yet underutilized opportunity to reverse the pending obesity and diabetes-induced epidemic of morbidity and mortality,” meaning disease and death. As I discuss in my video How to Reverse Heart Failure with Diet, the issue featured your typical heart disease reversal cases, including a 77-year-old woman with such bad heart disease that she couldn’t walk more than half a block or go up a single flight of stairs. She had severe blockages in all three of her main arteries and was referred to open-heart surgery for a bypass. However, instead of surgery, “she chose to adopt a whole-food plant-based diet, which included all vegetables, fruits, whole grains, potatoes, beans, legumes and nuts.” Even though “she described her previous diet as a ‘healthy’ Western one,” within a single month of going plant-based, “her symptoms had nearly resolved”—and forgot about walking a block. “She was able to walk on a treadmill for up to 50 min without chest discomfort or dyspnea,” becoming out of breath. Her cholesterol dropped about a hundred points from around 220 mg/dL (5.7 mmol/L) down to 120 mg/dL (3.2 mmol/L), with an LDL under 60 mg/dL (1.5 mmol/L). Then, four to five months later, she must have started missing her “chicken, fish, low-fat dairy and other animal products” and “returned to her prior eating habits.” Within a few weeks, with no change in her medications or anything else, her chest pain returned, and she went on to have her chest sawed in half after all. After the surgery, she continued to eat the same diet that had contributed to causing her disease in the first place, then went on to have further disease progression. Another case featured in the journal has a happier ending. It started out similarly: A 60-year-old man with severe chest pain after walking just half a block decided to take control of his health destiny and switched to a whole food, plant-based diet. “He described his prior diet as a ‘healthy’ diet of skinless chicken, fish, and low-fat dairy with some vegetables, fruits, and nuts”—a diet that had been choking off his heart. Within a few weeks, he experienced the same amazing transformation—from not being able to exercise at all to walking a mile, then being able to jog more than four miles (6.4 km), completely asymptomatic, off all drugs, without any surgery, and off to live happily ever after. Now, of course, case reports are just glorified anecdotes. What we need is a randomized controlled trial to prove that heart disease can be reversed with lifestyle changes alone. Guess what? There was one published three decades ago, proving angiographic reversal of heart disease in 82 percent of the patients. Their arteries opened up without drugs and without surgery. So, these case reports are just to remind us that hundreds of thousands of individuals continue to needlessly die every year from what was proven to be a reversible condition decades ago. The conventional use of case reports, though, is to present novel results in the hopes of inspiring trials to put them to the test. For example, consider this case report on a plant-based diet for congestive heart failure—not simply coronary artery disease. In this case, the heart muscle itself was so weakened that it couldn’t efficiently pump blood. It was only able to eject about 35 percent of the blood in the main heart chamber with every beat, whereas, normally, the heart can pump out at least 50 percent. And that’s exactly what the patient’s heart was able to do just six weeks after switching to a whole food, plant-based diet, which he chose to do instead of getting his chest cracked open. The researchers wrote: “To our knowledge, this is the first report of an improvement in heart failure symptoms and left ventricular ejection fraction following adoption of a plant-based diet.” It may be the first, but it isn’t the last. Another case: A 54-year-old woman, obese and diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, presented with swelling ankles due to her heart failure. She switched from her regular diet of chicken and fish to whole plant foods. She started eating more healthfully, lost 50 pounds, and reversed her diabetes—meaning she had normal blood sugars on a normal diet without the use of diabetes medications. Her heart function normalized, too, going from an abysmal ejection fraction of just 25 percent up to normal, as you can see below and at 5:00 in my video. Since it wasn’t a randomized controlled trial, all we can say is that her improvements coincided with her adoption of a whole food, plant-based diet. But, “given the burden of heart failure [as a leading cause of death], its adverse prognosis,” meaning it usually worsens progressively, “and the overall evidence to date, a plant-based diet should be considered as part of a multifaceted approach to heart failure care.” We already know it can reverse coronary artery disease, so any heart failure benefits would just be a bonus. Now, we just need good strategies for healthcare “practitioners to support patients in plant-based eating.” Shown below and at 5:42 in my video are some excellent suggestions to pause and reflect on. Doctors, for example, can “use the Plant Rx pads produced by the Plantrician Project” and prescribe a good website or two, like NutritionFacts.org, as seen below and at 5:50 in my video. “While it is certainly true that many people would be resistant to fundamental dietary changes, it is equally true that millions of intelligent people motivated to preserve their health are now taking half-way measures that may provide only modest benefit—choosing leaner cuts of meat, using reduced-fat dairy products… Most of these people have neither the time nor the training to evaluate the biomedical literature themselves. Don’t they deserve honest, forthright advice when their lives are at stake? Those who wish to ignore this advice, or implement it only partially, are at liberty to do so.” Do you want to go smoke cigarettes? Bungee jump? It’s your body, your choice. It’s up to each of us to make our own decisions as to what to eat and how to live, but we should make these choices consciously, educating ourselves about the predictable consequences of our actions. Did I say reverse coronary heart disease? As in reverse the number one killer of men and women? I’ve got a lot of videos on the topic, and How Not to Die from Heart Disease is a good place to start. Check out the Plantrician Project at plantricianproject.org. I am a proud supporter. Key Takeaways A cardiology journal dedicating an entire issue to plant-based nutrition indicates increasing recognition of its health benefits, moving from ridicule and opposition to acceptance as a valuable approach. Past president of the American College of Cardiology, Dr. Kim Williams, emphasizes that evidence supporting the benefits of plant-based nutrition is substantial, particularly in preventing and reversing diseases like heart disease and diabetes. Several case studies highlight remarkable health improvements in patients who switched to a whole food, plant-based diet, including reversing severe heart disease symptoms and diabetes, although some reverted to the diets that contributed to their heart disease in the first place and went on to have further progression of their disease. We’ve known for more than three decades that lifestyle changes alone can reverse the progression of heart disease in 82 percent of patients—without drugs or surgery. Challenges remain in promoting plant-based diets, including patient resistance and misinformation. Strategies are needed for healthcare practitioners to actively support and educate patients about the benefits of a plant-based diet. To read the original article click here.

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Carpal Tunnel Syndrome May Indicate a High Risk of Developing Cardiac Amyloidosis

The AHA! Team — Wed, 18 Sep 2024 08:45:22 +0000

University of Alabama at Birmingham via EurekAlert! – Presence of carpal tunnel syndrome may indicate a high risk of developing cardiac amyloidosis, according to study from All of Us Research Program Physician-scientists from the University of Alabama at Birmingham Marnix E. Heersink School of Medicine led a nationwide study to examine the role of carpal tunnel syndrome in predicting the risk of cardiac amyloidosis. In their study published in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings, UAB researchers collaborated with researchers from Weill Cornell Medicine and Columbia University to show that carpal tunnel syndrome preceded the development of cardiac amyloidosis by 10-15 years and individuals with carpal tunnel syndrome were at a high risk of developing cardiac amyloidosis. “Cardiac amyloidosis is an underdiagnosed condition that may be responsible for up to one in 10 cases of heart failure,”said Naman S. Shetty, M.D., a research fellow in the UAB Division of Cardiovascular Disease and the first author of this manuscript. “At the time of diagnosis, individuals with cardiac amyloidosis have developed severe heart failure and are at a high risk of death. Early identification of cardiac amyloidosis may allow the initiation of disease-modifying therapeutic agents that halt the progression of disease and delay the development of heart failure. Therefore, early identification of cardiac amyloidosis is essential to prevent the mortality and morbidity associated with the disease.” Cardiac amyloidosis may be responsible for up to one in 10 cases of heart failure Shetty and his team utilized nationwide data from the All of Us Research Program to study approximately 150,000 individuals across the United States. The study unveiled a significant association between carpal tunnel syndrome and the risk of developing heart failure and amyloidosis. “We found that individuals with carpal tunnel syndrome exhibited a 13 percent higher risk of developing heart failure and a threefold higher risk of amyloidosis compared to those without carpal tunnel syndrome,” Shetty said. “Therefore, the findings of this study point toward carpal tunnel syndrome as a potential early indicator of cardiac amyloidosis.” Shetty says the development of carpal tunnel syndrome before developing cardiac amyloidosis may be attributed to the disease process in amyloidosis. Amyloidosis is characterized by the destabilization of the transthyretin protein, which leads to the breakdown of this protein into fragments. The deposition of these protein fragments in various tissues leads to the manifestations of amyloidosis. Shetty notes that the carpal tunnel is a tight space in the wrist and the deposition of even a small amount of protein fragments leads to the development of symptoms. However, a large amount of protein deposition in the heart is required for the alteration of the function of the heart and the development of cardiac symptoms. These differences may explain why carpal tunnel syndrome precedes cardiac amyloidosis by 10-15 years. Individuals with carpal tunnel syndrome exhibited a 13% higher risk of developing heart failure Pankaj Arora, M.D., the senior author of the manuscript and an associate professor in the UAB Division of Cardiovascular Disease, explains that cardiac amyloidosis is broadly classified as wild-type, meaning it has no identifiable genetic mutation, or hereditary, meaning it is caused by a genetic mutation in the TTR gene. “The All of Us Research Program provided the unique opportunity to examine whether carrying a TTR mutation was associated with a higher risk of developing carpal tunnel syndrome,” Arora said. “The study found that carriers of a TTR mutation have a roughly 40 percent higher risk of developing carpal tunnel syndrome, with the risk increasing notably around the age of 50-60 years. Our previous work showed that the risk of heart failure in individuals carrying a TTR mutation increased at nearly 75 years of age. Putting these findings together, individuals with a genetic mutation for cardiac amyloidosis develop carpal tunnel syndrome about 10-15 years prior to the development of heart failure.” Arora, who also serves as the director of the UAB Cardiogenomics Clinic, is routinely involved in caring for patients with hereditary cardiac amyloidosis. “The findings of this study have several implications for the detection of cardiac amyloidosis,” Arora said. “Cardiac amyloidosis screening programs targeting individuals with CTS between the ages of 50 and 60 years may facilitate early identification of ATTR amyloidosis.” Arora notes that genetic testing for TTR variants may prove to be a feasible strategy for screening. Considering that about 3 percent to 4 percent of Black individuals carry a genetic variant, implementation of genetic testing in individuals with carpal tunnel syndrome may allow early identification of carriers of genetic mutation and permit preventive strategies. These efforts may ultimately contribute to decreasing racial disparities in cardiovascular disease. Journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings DOI 10.1016/j.mayocp.2023.11.016 To read the original article click here.

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Intravenous Iron Benefits Patients with Heart Failure & Iron Deficiency

The AHA! Team — Mon, 10 Jun 2024 08:11:10 +0000

Duke Health – Despite numerical improvements in mortality, hospitalizations, and exercise ability, data did not reach the pre-specified level of statistical significance DURHAM, N.C. – More than half of all patients with heart failure experience iron deficiency, which is associated with worse symptoms, poor quality of life, and diminished exercise ability. A new study led by Duke Health researchers with global collaborators finds an intravenous iron treatment provides a measure of benefit to these patients, but the results are nuanced. More than half of all patients with heart failure experience iron deficiency The study is published in the New England Journal of Medicine and presented at the European Society of Cardiology Congress on Aug. 26. It evaluated the intravenous drug, ferric carboxymaltose, by looking at data on mortality, heart failure hospitalizations, and exercise capacity from more than 3,000 global study participants over a minimum follow-up period of 12 months. While the results didn’t meet the study’s higher threshold for statistical significance, the therapy demonstrated a numerical improvement across mortality, heart failure hospitalizations, and exercise capacity. The research team also noted results from a pre-specified pooled analysis with two previous studies of ferric carboxymaltose in heart failure, all comparing the drug to placebo for a fuller look at the available data. “In the broader review using all three studies, we saw a 14% reduction in cardiovascular deaths and total cardiovascular hospitalizations and a 12% reduction in cardiovascular death or heart failure hospitalization events overall across data from more than 4,500 participants collectively,” said Robert Mentz, M.D., corresponding author of the study, associate professor in the Department of Medicine at Duke University School of Medicine, and member of the Duke Clinical Research Institute. “As a practicing heart failure cardiologist, I have felt comfortable prescribing intravenous iron for patients with heart failure prior to this study given the known benefits on improvement in quality of life and exercise capacity,” Mentz said. “Now that we have these results, we have important additional data that show this therapy has potential benefits on clinical outcomes, which could help a broad group of patients with heart failure and iron deficiency across the globe.” The study was funded by American Regent, Inc., which manufactures ferric carboxymaltose, and is part of the Daiichi Sankyo Group. In addition to Mentz, study authors include Jyotsna Garg, Frank W. Rockhold, Javed Butler, Carmine G. De Pasquale, Justin A. Ezekowitz, Gregory D. Lewis, Eileen O’Meara, Piotr Ponikowski, Richard W. Troughton, Yee Weng Wong, Lilin She, Josephine Harrington, Robert Adamczyk, Nicole Blackman, and Adrian F. Hernandez. To read the original article click here.

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Researchers Identify, Test Novel Drug That May Stop Heart Failure Progression

AHA Publisher — Fri, 24 Jun 2022 07:00:10 +0000

Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center via Newswise – COLUMBUS, Ohio – Researchers at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and College of Medicine have developed a novel drug molecule that targets T-cells causing inflammation in heart failure patients, stopping further progression of the disease. During heart failure, T-cells, which are part of the immune system, go from protecting the body from infection to causing heart failure to progress. In a study of heart failure mice, Ohio State University researchers found these “bad” T-cells have increased levels of a protein called estrogen receptor alpha. With the help of the Drug Development Institute, which is part of The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center – Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute, researchers identified and tested a new drug molecule that activates estrogen receptor beta, which is known to have an opposite effect of estrogen receptor alpha. The novel treatment stopped progression of heart failure. Research results were published today in the American Heart Association journal Circulation Heart Failure. “This is a major finding since we have not had a new drug developed for heart failure in the last several years. We know inflammation plays an important role in worsening symptoms of heart failure, but we have not been able to identify suitable treatments that can target ‘bad’ inflammation without affecting ‘good’ inflammation. With this drug, we can selectively target ‘bad’ T-cells and stop the disease from getting worse,” said Shyam S. Bansal, an assistant professor in the Department of Physiology and Cell Biology and an investigator at the Dorothy M. Davis Heart and Lung Research Institute. Heart failure causes chronic inflammation and affects about 6 million Americans with many needing a heart transplant, according to the American Heart Association. The two most common causes are high blood pressure and coronary artery disease. “Currently there is no treatment that can stop progression of heart failure. About half of patients die within the first five years of their diagnosis. This novel treatment addresses one of the underlying mechanisms of the disease. With this drug, we may be able to significantly improve the lifespan of patients, and if we stop the disease at an early stage, patients may not even need a heart transplant,” Bansal said. Ohio State University has patented the drug molecule, OSU-ERb-012. Future research plans are to determine the effectiveness of the drug in other animal trials, identify the lowest therapeutic dose and eventually conduct clinical trials in human heart failure patients. The research is funded by the National Institutes of Health’s Heart, Lung and Blood Institute and Ohio State’s Drug Development Institute. The studies were mostly conducted by Rachel Rosenzweig and Vinay Kumar under the supervision of Bansal. To read the original article click here.

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Study Finds Mechanical Hearts Can Regenerate Some Heart Tissue

AHA Publisher — Thu, 10 Feb 2022 08:00:16 +0000

UT Southwestern Medical Center via Newswise – Mechanical hearts spur some regeneration in dormant parts of failing hearts, according to a UT Southwestern pilot study that shows promise for developing regenerative heart therapies. “This is by all accounts a small study, but it represents the first evidence that mechanical hearts, which are tried and true, approved treatments for end-stage heart failure patients, can generate new muscle tissue in the failing human heart,” said lead author Hesham Sadek, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Internal Medicine, Biophysics and Molecular Biology. His findings, published in the American Heart Association flagship journal Circulation, found that left ventricular assist devices (LVADs), widely accepted in cardiology as life-saving interventions, showed metabolic reactivation in myocardial areas that had little or even no activity. “What we need to do now is replicate these results in larger studies,” Dr. Sadek said. “If this holds true in larger studies, mechanical hearts might emerge as a regenerative therapy to reverse heart failure, which is the holy grail in heart failure treatment.” Dr. Sadek has broken extensive ground in this area of cardiology research with studies of heart regeneration in mice that were published in the journals Nature and Science. Cell reported his findings that oxygen metabolism causes DNA damage in heart cells that shuts down their ability to regenerate. Vlad Zaha, M.D., Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine, co-led the study with Dr. Sadek. “This study found evidence of regeneration in the parts of the heart that would be considered dead,” Dr. Zaha said. “It’s a promising finding that will lead to further investigations to replicate the results at larger scale, and – if confirmed – to explore potential new therapies to amplify this process in the context of LVAD support.” The pilot study of four patients, ages 39-59, who were taking medications for heart failure measured metabolic activity by tracking a radiolabeled sugar molecule called F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) in the heart. This FDG signal is considered a marker of “viable,” or alive, heart tissue. Positron emission tomography (PET) imaging tracked FDG uptake every six months for up to 18 months. All participants exhibited some degree of increase in FDG uptake in areas of previous metabolic inactivity at their baseline, which is suggestive of possible myocardial regeneration. Among the four patients, the increase in FDG uptake from their baseline ranged from 1.87% to 23.80%. The study was funded in large part by UT Southwestern’s Hamon Center for Regenerative Science and Medicine and the Leducq Foundation. Other UTSW researchers who contributed to the study include Mark Drazner, M.D., Pradeep Mammen, M.D., and Chao Xing, Ph.D. To read the original article click here.

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Revolutionary Implant Could Ease Congestive Heart Failure

AHA Publisher — Tue, 18 Jan 2022 08:00:44 +0000

Brian Blum via Israel21c – Congestive heart failure (CHF) is a leading cause of mortality – only 30 percent of patients survive 10 years, and less than half get even five years. Israeli startup Restore Medical has developed a new approach to treating CHF using an implantable device. CHF develops when the ventricles of the heart can’t pump enough blood volume. Eventually, blood and other fluids back up inside the lungs, abdomen, liver and lower body. Fluid in the lungs leads to shortness of breath and fatigue. CHF affects 6.2 million people in the United States and more than 64 million people globally. It affects nearly 10 out of every 1,000 people over the age of 65, in whom it is the most common diagnosis for hospitalized patients. Heart failure doesn’t mean the heart has stopped working; rather, because the blood returns to the heart faster than it can be pumped out, the heart becomes congested. The body tries to compensate by signaling the heart to beat faster, to take less time for refilling after it contracts. But over the long run, less blood circulates and the extra effort can cause heart palpitations. CHF most commonly damages the left ventricle – that’s the part of the heart that pumps blood to the body. The right ventricle’s job is to push blood into the lungs. The damaged left ventricle becomes dilated, like a balloon, to make room for the extra blood. The only treatment for CHF is pharmaceuticals such as ACE inhibitors, diuretics and vasodilators. Reducing Hospitalizations Restore Medical developed an implant that is inserted into the pulmonary artery. It changes the pressure on the healthy right ventricle, enabling it to support the failed left ventricle, explains Gilad Marom, Restore Medical’s CEO. The implant is dubbed ContraBand. “Contra,” which means “in opposition to,” refers to this contrarian push of one ventricle onto the other. The ContraBand implant is delivered to the heart via catheter in much the same way that stents are introduced – through the femoral vein in the thigh. “The procedure is relatively simple and takes less than an hour,” Marom tells ISRAEL21c. “Patients can be discharged the next day.” ContraBand is not a cure for CHF. It would be an additional treatment option along with pharmaceuticals. “It won’t make the disease go away,” Marom says. “No one can do that. But it will reduce symptoms and it can reduce hospitalizations or trips to the doctor when fluid gets in the lungs.” That’s significant because CHF is responsible for 4% of all hospitalizations worldwide and is the leading cause of repeat hospitalizations, with 25% of patients returning a month after discharge. Starting Clinical Trials Restore Medical has conducted trials on animals with CHF and has treated three human patients – two in Belgium at ZNA Medical Center in Antwerp, and one in Israel at Kaplan Medical Center in Rehovot. The next step is to recruit another 15 patients and follow up for six months, in order to gather data to seek FDA (United States) and CE (European Union) regulatory approval. Marom hopes that a fully commercialized version of ContraBand will be available to help patients by 2026. He expects to start an initial conversation with the FDA this year. He emphasizes that the functionality of the ContraBand device is completely reversible, “which is very rare in the cardio implant world.” If a patient no longer needs an implant or cannot tolerate it, “with any other cardiac device, the only ‘bailout’ is surgery,” Maron says. ContraBand, however, can be “deactivated” rather than removed, he claims. A Blue Ocean Restore Medical was founded by medical director Dr. Elchanan Bruckheimer; VP Clinical Affairs Stephen Bellomo; and Aaron Feldman, today a board member. Marom was recruited in 2019 from Edwards Life Sciences, where he worked for 12 years in Israel and the United States. There, he focused on transcatheter heart valves, taking three cardiovascular implants from inception to clinical success. “When I joined Edwards, the majority of the clinical community said it was impossible to replace the heart value other than by surgery. We proved the opposite,” he tells ISRAEL21c. While heart valves can be “fixed,” CHF had no solution. That’s why he accepted the offer to lead Restore Medical. “I recognized the opportunity to be in a ‘blue ocean’ situation, to prove there is another way to treat patients,” he says. “This was a brand-new approach, so the decision to join was relatively easy.” The company is based in Or Yehuda and employs six people. The Crunchbase website says the company has raised $1 million; Marom hinted that it was substantially more than that. Marom notes that Covid-19 has been tough for CHF patients. “People were afraid to go to the hospital due to Covid. And hospitals might not be as accessible.” That creates an acute need for “a device like ContraBand which helps already sick patients from getting more complications.” For more information on Restore Medical, click here. To read the original article click here.

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Tis the Season with a Miraculous Story of Recovery from Cancer, then Heart Failure

AHA Publisher — Fri, 17 Dec 2021 08:00:43 +0000

Henry Ford Health System via Newswise – DETROIT (December 13, 2021) – This holiday season will be especially merry for Dennis Brant who has made miraculous recoveries from heart failure and cancer. Last month he completed a 5K run in Plymouth alongside his daughter Ava – the first time he was able to participate in this kind of event in more than 13 years because of his medical issues. “My doctors never gave up on me. No matter how sick I was, they gave me that chance and that was the extra motivation I needed to fight and to survive,” said Brant, 51, a resident of Canton and the owner of his own construction company. “Henry Ford gave me that chance and that’s all anybody can ask for. A chance to fight to overcome the impossible.” In 2018, Brant came to Henry Ford after two hospitals told him damage to his heart was too severe to treat, leading to heart failure. The heart damage was caused by two years of chemotherapy to treat his cancer from several years earlier. His doctors believe the chemotherapy treatments led to a condition called cardiotoxicity, an adverse reaction of chemotherapy that can cause direct damage to the heart. At Henry Ford, he received a left-ventricular assist device (LVAD), a mechanical pump implanted in the chest, and then eight months later a defibrillator – both under the expert care of heart failure specialist Yelena Selektor, M.D. The defibrillator was needed after he suffered a near-fatal heart arrhythmia. “When I saw him for the first time, I wasn’t sure we could save him,” recalled Dr. Selektor. “He was extremely sick and struggling for every breath. We were able to put together a comprehensive treatment plan that included multiple infusions and medication to prepare him for the LVAD surgery.” Brant attributes his survival to the expertise and support of his heart care team, and his relentless drive to live and be around for his family. He lives life to the fullest and is very grateful for a second chance. “Finishing the 5K race last month was incredible when I think back that two-and-a-half years ago I was just getting out of a wheelchair,” said Brant who after the LVAD surgery had to learn to walk and exercise again. Brant has made great strides with the LVAD. “He has bloomed,” said Dr. Selektor, “He bloomed into this vibrant person that we see today. He had all this internal strength and power to live.” Looking back at where it all started in 2008 with the cancer diagnosis, Brant feels like he’s lived three lifetimes: before cancer, after cancer and after receiving the LVAD. “The strange part is that I don’t feel 51 years old, I feel like I should be 35. I missed all those years,” he said, adding that his journey as an emotional and mental roller coaster has come full circle. “My daughter said to me ‘Great job dad!’ as we crossed the finish line together for the 5K race,” he said. “If it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t have made it. I was able to show up, participate and finish.” To read the original article click here.

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Do You Have a Ticking Time Bomb in Your Chest That Could Cause a Stroke?

AHA Publisher — Wed, 03 Nov 2021 07:00:22 +0000

Walla! via The Jerusalem Post – More than 30,000 Israelis suffer from atrial fibrillation without knowing it. This is an arrhythmia, a fluctuation in the normal heart rate that is called a “ticking time bomb,” and it significantly increases the risk of having a stroke. A new questionnaire from the Ne’eman Association checks if you’re at risk of having a stroke. Approximately 90,000 Israelis suffer from atrial fibrillation, but 30,000 people don’t know that they have this condition. This means that they walk around with a ticking time bomb in their body that isn’t noticeable and can cause a stroke without any early warning signs. Now a new pilot from the Ne’eman Association seeks to diagnose these people and save their lives with a simple digital questionnaire for people over age 65. “Every year about 20,000 people suffer a stroke that can lead to disability and even death,” said Prof. Natan Bornstein, director of the Neurological Institute at Shaare Zedek Medical Center and chairman of the Israeli Stroke Society and the Ne’eman Association. “Of these strokes, only about 20% are caused by atrial fibrillation and occur in patients with no early symptoms, so in other words many of these cases were diagnosable and preventable.” What Is Atrial Fibrillation? Bornstein explained that atrial fibrillation is a heart rhythm disorder characterized by rapid and irregular contraction of the heart. Irregular heartbeat can cause blood to congeal in the heart and clot. The danger is that these blood clots will leave the heart and reach blood vessels in the brain. As a result, blood and oxygen supply to the brain may be blocked and cause a stroke.This is why atrial fibrillation is one of the major risk factors for stroke. The professor added that studies show that people over age 65 who have been diagnosed with atrial fibrillation are five times more likely to have a stroke as compared to the general healthy population. “Early detection of atrial fibrillation and appropriate drug treatment with anticoagulants can prevent a stroke and therefore it’s crucial to diagnose atrial fibrillation,” he said. The incidence of atrial fibrillation increases with age, and if people have diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, progressive heart failure, vascular disease, obstructive pulmonary disease and overactive thyroid gland, these increase the risk for atrial fibrillation in this age group. As mentioned, the Ne’eman Association, which works to reduce stroke and provides rehabilitative services, is now leading a unique pilot that will identify people at risk for atrial fibrillation by using a digital questionnaire and advanced heart rate monitoring technology, in order to save their lives. The pilot calls on people aged 65 and over to answer a digital questionnaire, which examines their level of risk for latent atrial fibrillation. Participants diagnosed at high risk using the questionnaire will receive at home, for free, an advanced heart rate monitoring device (called a Holter), which is connected 24/7 to a monitoring center in order to find a fibrillation. As part of the pilot, those who are at risk will receive the world’s smallest miniature monitoring device called MonitorNano, which runs an automated algorithm for detecting arrhythmias, which is pre-programmed to detect arrhythmias. The patient has nothing to do but carry it on his body. It’s the smallest wearable monitoring device in the world, only 12 mm thick and weighs only 18 grams. The data received from the monitor is transmitted to the center through the management application installed on a cell phone and analyzed by medical staff. “There is no doubt that if it’s possible to prevent a stroke, of course this is the preferred option,” concluded Pnina Rosenzweig, CEO of the Ne’eman Association. “Early testing to detect those at risk can save lives and this is a way to do so with a simple and free answer. It’s possible to get a professional and quality diagnosis of a significant risk factor and prevent a stroke.” To read the original article click here.

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