Cardioshock Therapy: now in America
The life expectancy of patients who have undergone heart surgery is gradually increasing, and today stent implantation, coronary artery bypass grafting or heart valve replacement can prolong a person's life by 20 years. However, these additional years of life are often overshadowed by complications caused by insufficient oxygen supply to the heart tissue. The resulting squeezing pain or heaviness in the chest area (angina pectoris), which in some cases can not be relieved by any surgical intervention, can haunt patients for years.
Patients with recurrent angina pectoris take a huge amount of medications, often do angiograms and seek emergency medical care. At the same time, they constantly complain about a very low quality of life. Medical treatment provides only short-term relief by relieving the symptoms of the disease.
One of the leaders in the development of installations for shock wave therapy (UHT), sound waves similar to those used for crushing kidney stones, the American company Medispec, recently announced the start of clinical trials in three major US medical centers. In total, 15 patients will take part in the trials – five in each of the participating centers. The therapy will consist of nine courses conducted over nine weeks (three courses each during the first, fifth and ninth weeks).
Cardiospec devices have been used in Latin America, Ukraine and Russia since 2007. Approximately 70% of patients UHT improves the blood supply to the heart by 60-70%: the figure shows the blood supply to the left ventricle of the heart of a 62–year-old patient, on the left – before shock wave therapy, on the right - after treatment (blood flow is indicated in red).
The results of treatment of patients with refractory angina using shock wave therapy were first published in the journal Circulation in 1999, but the mechanism of action of sound waves is still unknown. It is possible that this effect induces processes similar to those that are triggered when damage is repaired, in particular, undifferentiated stem cells are attracted to the affected area, ensuring the formation of new blood vessels. UHT is also used to treat other diseases associated with impaired blood supply – in particular, with ischemic stroke and erectile dysfunction.
Evgeniya Ryabtseva
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru based on ScienceDaily: Shocking Treatment for Heart Repair.
25.05.2010