The breakthrough came when scientists figured out how to put a third lead on the more vulnerable left ventricle, so both sides can be sparked to pump together. It's tricky, requiring threading into just the right spot in a vein lying on the ventricle's wall. It's not a cure. But early results are promising, German scientist Dr. Angelo Auricchio told a recent meeting of the North American Society of Pacing and Electrophysiology. In a study of 42 severely ill Europeans, a single month's use of the device improved the heart's pumping efficiency by 15 percent, and significantly increased patients' ability to walk.
Longer use seems to be reducing hospitalizations.
Dr. Scott Higgins of Scripps Memorial Hospital in San Diego has implanted 60 Americans with the Guidant device. He says people once too weak to get out of bed now go shopping and do other routine activities. Kent was his best patient, shooting a hole in one last summer months after the implant. Indianapolis-based Guidant, which developed the device at its facility in St. Paul, Minn., just began selling it in Europe. St. Jude Medical is creating another pacemaker-like device especially for heart failure worsened by the irregular heartbeat atrial fibrillation.