What is it?
Enhanced External Counterpulsation (EECP) is a noninvasive outpatient treatment option for patients with refractory angina or heart failure. It benefits patients who have chronic angina but are not candidates for surgery or other invasive procedures. It also may benefit some individuals with heart failure. The treatment involves the application of pressure cuffs around the hips, thighs, and calves and inflating these cuffs during the rest cycle of the heartbeat.
A number of clinical studies and trials have shown the following benefits:
How is it performed?
The therapy is typically given in 35 one-hour-sessions, five days a week, for seven weeks. Patients lie down on a padded table and have the calves and lower and upper thighs wrapped in blood pressure-like cuffs. The system, which is synchronized to the individual patient?s cardiac cycle, inflates the cuffs with air to create external pressure when the heart is resting and deflates the cuffs just before the heart beats. The system?s action, which pulses counter to the heart's beating, increases blood flow to the heart muscle, decreases the heart?s workload and creates a greater oxygen supply for the heart muscle while lowering the heart's need for oxygen.
Benefits:
EECP therapy is a safe and effective treatment that creates new pathways around blocked arteries in the heart by expanding networks of tiny blood vessels that help increase blood flow to the heart muscle. The therapy can reduce or eliminate the frequency and intensity of chest pain, decrease the need for medication and great improve the ability to participate in activities of daily living.