Bon Secours St. Francis is now offering a new, minimally invasive treatment option for patients experiencing heart failure, a condition that impacts 6.5 million Americans.
Impulse Dynamics’ newly launched Optimizer® Smart Mini is an implantable device that delivers cardiac contractility modulation (CCM) therapy to the heart. This first-of-its-kind treatment provides precisely timed electrical pulses to the heart just after it contracts and is designed to improve contraction of the heart, allowing more oxygen-rich blood to reach the body.
“We’re excited to be one of the first hospitals in South Carolina to implant this latest generation CCM therapy device. It’s clear this therapy has the potential to fill a significant unmet medical need for patients with heart failure,” said Dr. Jeff Senfield, a Bon Secours cardiologist specializing in electrophysiology.
By 2030, the American Heart Association estimates more than 8 million people in the United States – one in every 33 – will have heart failure. It’s a condition in which the heart slowly weakens and cannot pump with the necessary force to supply enough oxygen-rich blood to meet the body’s needs.
Patients with heart failure experience debilitating symptoms, including breathlessness, fatigue, confusion and swelling in the legs that make everyday activities challenging. Most patients are prescribed medications intended to slow the progression of the disease and manage their symptoms, but as the condition progresses, these treatments lose their effectiveness.
“These patients may be suffering in spite of being on medications, as that’s not always enough to help slow the progression of heart failure and improve their quality of life. This new device offers a breakthrough treatment option that provides hope as it can help relieve many of their symptoms in the short and long term and allows us to better manage their disease over the long term. Studies have shown a greater than 80 percent response rate, and it has been shown to increase the ejection fraction, or the squeeze of the heart.”
The Optimizer device is similar in size to a pacemaker and is implanted during a minimally invasive procedure while the patient is under light sedation. During the procedure, the device is put under the skin of the upper chest, along with electrical leads that are placed in the heart’s right ventricle. The implanted device then sends electrical pulses to the heart muscle for a total of five hours a day, in one-hour treatments separated by regular intervals.
This latest generation technology incorporates a rechargeable battery with a greater than 20-year battery life, offering diagnostic monitoring that provides important clinical insights to providers to assist in managing their patients with heart failure.
To find out if the Optimizer® Smart Mini and CCM therapy are right for you or someone you love, call Bon Secours Upstate Cardiology at 864-235-7665.