Approximately six million Americans are currently living with heart failure and research indicates that the number of those living with cardiovascular disease will likely surge to 12.9 million by 2060.
To date, the prescribed course of management uses a multidisciplinary approach involving medical therapies, lifestyle enhancements, and surgical interventions. This can range from minimally invasive implantation of pacemakers and defibrillators to more aggressive management paths of open heart surgery to implant a left-ventricular assist device or heart transplantation.
Vascular surgeons from Allegheny General Hospital’s http://ahn.org Cardiovascular Institute, which is the flagship academic medical center in the Allegheny Health Network (AHN), https://www.ahn.org, have successfully implanted a new neuromodulation device used as an alternative therapy for patients with progressive Heart Failure (HF).
The device Barostim™ Baroreflex Activation Therapy from the Minneapolis-based med tech company CVRx https://www.cvrx.com is the first FDA approved HF device to use manipulation of the nervous system to reinvigorate the heart and improve function.
Unlike other HF treatment options, Barostim does not require any hardware implementation in the heart but uses an electrode placed on the patient’s carotid artery within the neck during a minimally invasive outpatient procedure. The electrode provides continuous electrical stimulation to the body’s carotid baroreceptors, the body’s natural mechanism that regulates cardiovascular function.
Barostim’s stimulation triggers both the body’s sympathetic (fight or flight response) and parasympathetic (rest and digest response) nervous systems to create a unique balance that can better regulate the function of a patient’s heart, kidney, and vascular system.
According to Srinivas Murali, M.D, “Heart Failure Specialist and System Chairman of the AHN Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, “In many instances, the baroreceptors in heart failure patients have lost their vigor and this device kick starts the nervous system into high gear restoring neuro-hormonal balance which in turn, improves cardiovascular performance enabling patients to go home on the same day as the procedure.”