Reporters/Cameras Can View/Film Procedure Performed on 74-Year-Old Suffering
From Congestive Heart Failure for Years
Thursday, January 27 between 7:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.
LONG BEACH, Calif., Jan. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- Long Beach Memorial Medical
Center will implant the world's first cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT)
defibrillator system to offer automatic fluid status monitoring in the
thoracic cavity, the chest area encompassing the lungs and heart, in a
74-year-old Carson man on Thursday, Jan. 27 between 7:30 and 10:30 a.m. The
new implantable therapy is expected to provide a critical advantage in
managing heart failure, since thoracic fluid accumulation is a primary
indicator of worsening heart failure and often results in patient
hospitalization.
"It's an ideal therapy option for the 400,000 Americans with heart failure
who have dysynchronous beating in the heart's lower chambers and low blood
output that places them at risk for sudden cardiac arrest," says Serge Tobias,
MD, cardiologist at Memorial Heart and Vascular Institute at Long Beach
Memorial. "Long Beach Memorial is always at the forefront of research for
cardiac resynchronization therapy and now, in addition to providing important
therapies to treat heart failure and fast heart rhythms, this is the first
time we'll have early notification about fluid accumulation in the lungs,
which will serve as an immediate warning sign allowing us to adjust treatment
accordingly and hopefully keep patients out of the hospital."
Recently approved by the FDA, its breakthrough feature is the ability to
measure thoracic fluid. Using low electrical pulses traveling across the
chest cavity, the system measures the level of resistance to electrical pulses
that indicate thoracic fluid level in the thorax. Since fluid levels vary and
fluid accumulation is slow or rapid, the ability to measure fluid status over
time provides important insights in conjunction with ongoing monitoring of
other patient symptoms.
Once implanted, this new defibrillator system will provide vital patient
information to physicians who manage the ongoing care of heart failure
patients. In the future, physicians will be able to access data gathered by
the system using the Internet and through wireless transmissions that won't
require direct patient interaction.
CRT resynchronizes the contractions of the heart's lower chambers by
sending tiny electrical impulses to the heart muscle, which can help the heart
pump blood throughout the body more efficiently and reduce heart failure
symptoms. The system's defibrillation capability delivers greater or larger
electrical pulses to treat a potentially lethal heart rhythm, which is
important for heart failure patients who may require more energy to terminate
life-threatening arrhythmias. According to the American Heart Association,
patients with heart failure are six to nine times more likely to suffer an
episode of sudden cardiac arrest than the general population.
Heart failure afflicts 5 million Americans and is the number one cause of
hospital admissions, with most admissions due to fluid accumulation in the
thorax. This fluid buildup often goes undetected until the patient is
critically ill. It is not unusual for patients to require hospitalization or
urgent treatment at an emergency room for severe respiratory distress. With
about 1 million hospitalizations each year for heart failure at a cost of an
estimated $40 billion annually, improving heart failure management not only
saves lives, but reduces costs.
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SOURCE Long Beach Memorial Medical Center
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CONTACT:
Jeanne Randol of Long Beach Memorial Medical
Center, +1-562-519-6730
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