Source: United Press International
Posted: November 1, 2006
Summary:
British doctors reported Wednesday that the combination of a mechanical device and a cocktail of drugs reversed heart failure in a small group of patients supposedly suffering from "end-stage" disease. In the study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, Emma Birks and colleagues at Royal Brampton and Harefield National Health Service selected 27 patients with end-stage heart failure to undergo treatment with a mechanical, partially implanted device that assists the left ventricle -- the pumping chamber of the heart -- to improve its function. After nearly a year of pharmaceutical treatment, four of the 15 patients achieved a remodeling of their hearts sufficiently to allow doctors to remove the assist devices
Commentary: Maybe this device will be successful enough in a large patient population to eventually become a standard method of treatment for heart disease.
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