Feb 16, 2009 10:28 am US/Eastern
'Support Hose' Net To Help Prevent Heart Failure
HeartNet Wrap To Give Support For Around Hearts
NEW YORK (CBS News) ―
A "simple but ingenious" new procedure appears to offer hope that heart failure patients can have much more normal lives.
HeartNet is just what its name implies -- a net placed around the heart to support it, aimed at giving patients much more pep.
As part of the CBS Early Show series "HeartScore," Dr. Simon Maybaum, medical director of the Center for Advanced Cardiac Therapy at Montefiore-Einstein Heart Center in New York, spoke with Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith.
"There are five million patients with congestive heart failure in the United States," said Maybaum. "When the heart muscle becomes weak, the heart becomes to enlarge. In fact, some heart failure patients can have huge hearts, and that puts a stretch on the heart muscle cells and on the walls of the heart.
"And eventually, when the pump becomes weak, patients become very symptomatic, with shortness of breath and tiredness, and they retain fluid in various parts of their body," he said.
Maybaum was hopeful HeartNet could change that.
"It supports the walls of the dilated heart and takes stress off those heart muscle cells, hopefully to make the heart smaller and stronger," he said. "It's (the net) put in through a very small incision on the side of the chest through a miniaturized delivery system. And the whole procedure takes about an hour." He described it as a "simple but ingenious idea."
"In the United States, this is part of a really fascinating trial at 29 centers," added Maybaum. "It's one of the most exciting things that we're studying at Montefiore Medical Center."
HeartNet recipient Antoinette Jackson said she "jumped" at the prospect when doctors first approached her about getting it a year-and-a-half ago.
"At the time, I was in jeopardy of being put on a heart transplant list," she said. "I'm a survivor. So I'm willing to fight, do what I need to do to be there.
Things had gotten so bad, Jackson says, she "was unable to even dress myself, bathe myself without assistance. I wasn't able to go out of the house. I was a prisoner in my own home," suffering from shortness of breath and unable to go from point-to-point without assistance.
"Before the procedure," Jackson said, "I was able to walk eight minutes on a treadmill. Now I can do 12-and-ahalf minutes. I can do ten minutes on my (exercise) bike at home. I've lost 40 pounds. Life is much better. And this April, I'll be 43 years old. ... I'm feeling good. Life is good again."
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