Jacksonville, Fla. – Heart failure-a syndrome when the heart can’t meet the energy demands of the body-is a major and growing health problem, with nearly 5 million Americans currently diagnosed, and more than 500,000 new cases each year. Typically, heart failure develops slowly after injury to the heart, such as after a heart attack or when too much strain is placed on the heart because of years of untreated high blood pressure or a diseased heart valve.
Now University of Florida (UF) physicians at Shands Jacksonville offer hope to heart failure patients who struggle daily to cope with this debilitating illness through the use of cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT), which is used to treat moderate to severe heart failure with left ventricular dysynchrony. Left ventricular dysynchrony is where the walls of the left ventricle don’t contract at the same time.
Approved by the Food and Drug Administration, CRT, or biventricular pacing, is basically a modified pacemaker that synchronizes the walls of the left ventricle to pump at the same time. The benefits of this type of therapy are increased heart efficiency and the forward flow of blood.
Stephen Hsu, M.D., a University of Florida assistant professor of medicine and director of electrophysiology at Shands Jacksonville, believes CRT is one of the most significant new therapies developed for the treatment of heart failure. “There have been several clinical trials with various drugs and the results have not been that promising,” he comments. “CRT is the first type of therapy where the results show great potential.”
So far, Hsu has treated more than 20 heart failure patients with this latest therapy at Shands Jacksonville. He says patients implanted with the pacemaker device have had a significant improvement in exercise capacity, quality of life and functional status.
Jacksonville resident Teresa Jones, 42, was among the first patients at Shands Jacksonville to be treated with CRT. She says her life has drastically changed for the better. “Before, I had difficulty breathing and no energy whatsoever. I had to make myself get out of bed each morning,” recalls Jones. “Now, I have lots of energy and rarely have shortness of breath. I haven’t felt this good in many years.”
Prior to CRT, the main treatment for heart failure was the use of optimal drug therapies such as beta-blockers and ACE (angiotensin converting enzyme) inhibitors. Jones says drug therapy didn’t control all of her heart failure symptoms. “It was tolerable with drugs but not great.”