Patent ID: 7517312

Claim:
A method for treating a patient exhibiting left ventricular dysfunction and having a left ventricular ejection fraction of no more than about 40 percent of left ventricle volume, but at least 15 percent of left ventricle volume, which comprises applying, during diastole, for a time period of about one hour, about five days each week for at least about seven weeks, an incrementally increasing external therapeutic pressure using a plurality of cuffs, sequentially to the lower extremities of the patient, beginning with a first hourly treatment at a D/S Ratio in the range of about 0.4:1 up to about 0.6:1 and thereafter at a D/S Ratio in the range of about 0.5:1 to about 1:1 for each consecutive hourly treatment, with the proviso that the average D/S Ratio over the entire treatment does not exceed about 0.9:1.