The Cone Health Heart and Vascular Center is conducting a clinical trial www.conehealth.com/locations/profile/?id=8 called the BeAT-HF trial using Baroreflex Activation Therapy®. The idea is to see if the patient’s body can be used to lessen the impact of heart failure.
The participants in the trial receive a comprehensive screening from a medical team that includes a cardiologist, vascular surgeon, and an ear, nose, and throat specialist. The vascular surgeon places a tiny electrode into the carotid artery. Next, the cardiologist attaches a wire from the electrode to an egg-sized pulse generator placed under the skin in the chest.
When the generator sends a pulse to the carotid artery, the body responds in surprising ways. “A signal goes to the brain and the brain tells the body’s circulatory system to sort of relax,” reports James Allred MD, Cone Health Medical Group Cardiologist. “The blood pressure then drops, the heart slows, kidneys even work better, and the blood flows easier in the body.”
In another research effort, Dr. Dan Bensimhon Director at the Cone Health Advanced Heart Failure Clinic www.conehealth.com/services/heart-vascular/heart-failure-program, noticed that a small vest used in the military measures fluid in the lungs of patients.
The doctor found out that the vest uses the ReDs™ System designed by Sensible Medical Innovations Ltd http://sensible-medical.com/Technology an Israeli-based company. ReDs is a noninvasive system for monitoring and managing lung fluid and can be worn over clothing and takes only 90 seconds to measure lung fluid.
The Triad HealthCare Network www.triadhealthcarenetwork.com a physician-led ACO located in North Carolina, is putting this vest to wider use. So far, the ACO has purchased four vests. All heart failure patients at Alamance Regional Medical Center will use the ReDs System, select heart failure patients at Randolph Hospital will have lung fluid levels checked at home using the vests, and vests will also be used in the emergency department at the Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital.