Trails Section - Clovis Free Press Vol. Unknown Presentations Inc. Reagan Library Sierra Portal Tower News Web Portal Inc. Nearly 5 million Americans have congestive heart failure , a condition in which the heart can't pump enough blood to meet the body's needs.
Drugs help many, but patients whose hearts worsen despite medication have few options.
The walls of the heart, as they contract, are out of sequence with each other. A new device called a biventricular pacemaker resynchronizes the heart so that both sides pump at the same time. Unlike a regular pacemaker that uses two wires to deliver electricity to the heart, the new device has three. Dr. Mester told the Clovis Free Press Newspaper the device can improve the heart's pumping efficiency up to 40 percent, but it is not a cure. The new device is not for all congestive heart-failure patients.