AGH Researchers Explore Use of Heart Wrap Device To Improve Cardiac Function, Exercise Capacity in Patients with Advanced Heart Failure
May 05, 2009
Cardiovascular disease
researchers at Allegheny General Hospital (AGH) in
Called the HeartNet™ Ventricular Support System, the new technology is made of an elastic nickel titanium mesh that is designed to reinforce the walls of the heart and slow or stop its enlargement. By augmenting the heart’s pumping chambers, or ventricles, the device has shown the potential to help the heart work more efficiently and decrease the debilitating symptoms of heart failure, saidSrinivas Murali, M.D.,
Director of AGH’s Division of Cardiovascular Medicine and Medical Director of the hospital’s Gerald McGinnis Cardiovascular Institute.Under the direction of
Dr. Murali and cardiovascular surgeon, Stephen
Bailey, M.D., AGH is one of up to 30 U.S. medical centers investigating the
safety and efficacy of the HeartNetTM device in a
randomized clinical trial called the PEERLES-HF study (Prospective Evaluation
of Elastic Restraint to Lessen the Effects of Heart Failure).
To date, four patients
have been enrolled into the PEERLES-HF study at AGH. The enrollment goal
nationwide is 274.
Other key AGH
participants in the study include Raymond
L. Benza, M.D., Director
and Section Head of AGH’s Advanced Heart Failure,
Transplantation, Mechanical Circulatory Support and Pulmonary Hypertension, and
cardiologist George
Sokos, DO.
“We are excited about
the promise of this new technology in that it addresses the needs of a large
patient population with debilitating symptoms. The HeartNet
implant is a unique, surgical approach to assisting the failing heart on a
permanent basis for patients who are failing medical therapy. Its compliant,
elastic structure conforms to the epicardial surface
of the heart, supporting it throughout the cardiac cycle and reducing stress on
the heart muscle,” said Dr. Murali.
The American Heart
Association estimates that more than 5 million Americans suffer from heart
failure, including 10% of those over the age of 65. Heart failure is the
leading cause of hospital admissions in the
Preliminary studies
conducted at AGH and a number of other leading medical centers in the
Dilated cardiomyopathy is a condition in which the heart becomes
weakened and enlarged, reducing its ability to pump blood efficiently. Diminished
heart function adversely affects the viability of other critical organs and
body systems, including the lungs, kidneys and liver. Once diagnosed with the
disease, less than 50% of patients live beyond five years.
Implantation of the HeartNet device takes about one hour to perform and is done
through a small chest wall incision during an off-pump, or beating heart,
procedure, said Dr. Bailey. Patients are typically admitted to the hospital
from four to twelve days.
“The HeartNet device may offer an intriguing less invasive
surgical option for patients with advanced heart failure. It has the potential
to halt and reverse progressive deterioration in heart function, thereby
avoiding the need for more invasive surgical therapies, such as left
ventricular assist devices and heart transplantation, in some patients. Should
the larger study that we are now involved in duplicates the success of this
therapy in the early trials, it could prove to be a significant advancement in
the treatment of many patients with heart failure,” Dr. Bailey said.
The HeartNet
device was developed and is manufactured by Paracor
Medical Inc.,
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