Instead of squeezing blood out, the muscle beats so fast that it simply quivers. Fortunately, the man's wife performed CPR and rescue workers resuscitated him. That's why Herre and other physicians are participating in a new trial that will study ways to keep heart failure patients alive. In particular, Herre will evaluate the effectiveness of tiny implantable defibrillators. Like the panels used on cardiac arrest victims in emergency rooms, these devices deliver an intense shock that jolts the heart back into rhythm.
Sensors tell the defibrillator when the heart needs a shock.
This study is funded by Guidant, another pacemaker manufacturer, and will involve 2,500 patients at 50 centers around the country. Herre is enrolling 25 to 50 participants in the next six to 12 months. Patients will be followed for a year or two more. He expects his trial's results to be less ambiguous than those of the Medtronic research.