Hospital Begins Groundbreaking Study To Identify More Patients For Bi-Ventricular Pacemakers

July 26, 2007 – 11:45 pm | posted in Medical Devices

A team of cardiologists at Good Hope Hospital has been given funding to begin a study in which they hope to prove that many more patients with heart failure could benefit from bi-ventricular pacemakers.
Good Hope Hospital is already a leading national centre for implanting bi-ventricular pacemakers in patients suffering from heart failure. Since 2000 the team of cardiologists has given the life-saving device to more than 380 people. Now the doctors are beginning groundbreaking research, which they hope will prove that many more patients could benefit from the device.

Heart failure is a condition when the heart is unable to pump blood efficiently, causing breathlessness, tiredness and lack of mobility. Bi-ventricular pacemakers are a very successful way of treating the disease, and over 80 percent of those who receive one respond positively.

Current guidelines only recommend the pacemaker for Heart Failure patients with a delay in the left ventricle, as shown on an electrocardiogram (ECG). However research using cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has suggested that more patients with heart failure benefit from a biventricular pacemaker.

The current ECG guidance therefore disqualifies more than 70 per cent of heart failure patients from receiving the pacemaker. This new study at Good Hope Hospital hopes to show that many of these disqualified patients can also benefit from the device.

Dr Fransico Leyva, the Consultant Cardiologist leading the research, said: “During our research, we’ll give Heart Failure patients cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as well as ECG. The MRI will allow us to examine the heart in much greater detail, and to detect this imbalance between the contraction of left and right ventricles.

“From a previous study we know that that patients with dyssychrony benefit from bi-ventricular pacemakers,” Dr Leyva continued. “The pacemakers work in this case as they have two wires that go into the two pumping chambers of the heart. Impulses are sent down these wires to get the two ventricles beating in a coordinated fashion. In this study we will give patients with dyssynchrony bi-ventricular pacemakers and follow their progress.” The team of cardiologists at Good Hope Hospital hopes that through this research they will show that many more patients should be given the pacemaker, improving the quality of life of many more Heart Failure patients, and ultimately saving lives.

Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust comprises Heartlands and Solihull Hospitals, Birmingham Chest Clinic and Good Hope Hospital. It now serves a population of over a million and employs more than 10,000 staff, making it one of the top five employers in the Midlands.

Heart of England Foundation Trust
http://www.heartofengland.nhs.uk

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