Results and preliminary findings were presented last month at the annual meeting of the American College of Cardiology in Orlando. A study by an international team of researchers was published last month in the New England Journal of Medicine and showed that the implanted device can help patients walk farther, exercise longer and generally feel better. This is going to revolutionize all of cardiac rhythm management technology. She presented preliminary findings at the conference indicating that this new technology not only resynchronizes the heart, but can also support slow heart beats, detect abnormal beats before they become a significant problem, help heart failure physicians manage medications, and even prevent sudden death. Congestive, or chronic, heart failure is a progressive cardiovascular disease affecting more than 5 million Americans.
Heart failure differs from a heart attack.
It is a progressive condition occurring in people who may have survived a heart attack or who have had other disorders such as high blood pressure, diabetes, malfunctioning heart valves, alcoholism, or certain viruses that damage heart muscle tissue. The damaged tissue disrupts normal electrical communication pathways within the heart. As a result, the ventricles often are not synchronized, as they are in a healthy heart, and cannot adequately pump enough blood to meet the body s needs. Patients with failing hearts often feel light-headed or faint, become exhausted easily and ultimately find it difficult to walk even a short distance across a room. Other symptoms include fluid buildup in the lungs and puffiness or swelling in the feet, ankles, legs or abdomen.