For patients of angina and myocardial infarction (heart attack) who are not fit for angioplasty or bypass surgery or are not responding to medication, there is now a non-invasive “simple, safe and effective” alternative treatment in town that doesn’t entail hospital stay.
K.B. Heart Foundation, on Elgin Road, has introduced external counterpulsation (ECP), a new therapy for angina pectoris, “for the first time in eastern India”. Approved by the FDA (US) and NHS (England), ECP is a non-surgical, mechanical procedure to reduce the symptoms of angina pectoris (cardiac chest pain) by increasing blood flow to the heart.
“It is some kind of an extra-aortic balloon pump. The basic concept is to increase diastolic pressure and transmit the pressure to the aorta, so that the ultimate effect is felt in the coronary artery and blood flow increases,” explains B. Khetawat, medical director, K.B. Heart Foundation and visiting cardiologist at BM Birla Heart Research Centre and CMRI.
The patient lies on a bed wearing a series of pressure cuffs around the legs. The cuffs inflate and deflate electronically, synchronised with the heartbeat and move the blood from the legs towards the heart. The increased blood flow is delivered to the heart at the precise moment when it is relaxing and blood flow through the coronary vessels is at its peak. When the heart pumps again, the pressure in the cuffs is deflated instantaneously.
“ECP is a painless procedure and patients feel like being tightly hugged by the cuffs. It has a well-documented 80-85 per cent efficacy in treatment of coronary artery disease worldwide. For high-risk patients and those with co-morbidity conditions, it is a real boon. Also, with life expectancy increasing steadily in India, cases of redo bypass surgery are also on the rise and a large chunk of the aged population could benefit from this,” adds Khetawat.
There are 13 centres offering the therapy in the country, with ECP making its city debut at the Elgin Road heart unit earlier this month. A series of 35 one-hour sessions comes for Rs 70,000, with the package including allied non-invasive cardiac diagnostics. Some patients might need a second course, say doctors at K.B. Heart Foundation.
The therapy gives patients symptomatic and clinical relief. There is, apparently, reduced need for medicine, reduced frequency and intensity of pain, increased exercise tolerance and an improved sense of well-being. ECP has also been found to be effective in the treatment of renal hypertension, cerebral arteriosclerosis/thrombosis/embolism and even chronic fatigue.
The procedure can be performed after failed angioplasty or coronary artery bypass grafting for a more active lifestyle.
