Fla. A novel kind of pacemaker can substantially boost the pumping power of victims of congestive heart failure, offering an entirely new way of treating perhaps 1 million Americans with bad hearts. Doctors tested the device on people with especially severe heart failure and already taking standard medicines. Two-thirds improved significantly. Earlier research has suggested that this approach, cardiac resynchronization therapy, can energize sluggish hearts, but the new study is the first rigorous, scientific test.
Heart failure is the only form of heart disease on the increase in the United States.
It is largely a disease of the elderly, and many who once would have died of heart attacks now survive long enough to have this disorder. Heart failure is an inability of the heart to pump powerfully enough to circulate blood adequately. Symptoms include shortness of breath, fatigue and fluid accumulation. Between 2 million and 3 million Americans have heart failure, and 400,000 new cases are diagnosed each year. It causes 39,000 deaths annually and contributes to 225,000 more.