Restoring Power to Weakened Heart Muscles

A new device currently undergoing human clinical trials restores power to the weakened heart muscles that are involved in diastolic heart failure (DHF).

The ImCardia is a self-expanding device that attaches to the external surface of the left ventricle. When the heart muscle squeezes, energy is loaded into the device, which absorbs this energy, and subsequently releases it back to the left ventricle in the diastolic phase, thus enhancing the elastic characteristics of the left ventricular wall. By doing so, the device also helps to keep the muscles elastic, at the same time giving it a small "work out" that helps improve heart health. The ImCardia is being developed by CorAssist (Herzliya, Israel) and it has so far undergone safety studies on three patients in South America and Eastern Europe.

"Diastolic Heart Failure is a very serious and unresolved problem in cardiology. The CorAssist device is absolutely innovative and could potentially be the first therapeutic device for this disease. It is built on basic mechanical principles – energy from systole is harnessed and transferred to assist in diastole. When I saw the device for the first time, I understood at once that it has great potential,” said Peteris Stradins, M.D., chief of the department of cardiac surgery at Pauls Stradins Clinical University (Riga, Latvia) and a principal investigator in CorAssist's first-in-man safety study.

DHF is characterized by the inability of the left ventricle (LV) to relax appropriately and fill with blood. This is caused by stiffening and impaired relaxation of the ventricle with normal systolic function, either due to hypertrophy or to processes such as fibrosis and infiltrative diseases. These changes cause high LV filling pressures, leading to pulmonary congestion and atrial fibrillation derived from the distention of the atrium. While normal left ventricular end diastolic pressure (LVEDP) is 5-12 mmHg, diastolic dysfunction LVEDP can reach 20-25 mmHg. Risk factors for DHF include advancing age, obesity, hypertension, and diabetes.

Related Links:
CorAssist
Pauls Stradins Clinical University