CINCINNATI (Ivanhoe Broadcast News) --
Charles Williams has been playing bass guitar since he was 6. But
not long ago, heart trouble brought his music to a halt. "On stage,
I just absolutely gave up on it," he says. "I had no energy." At
46, Williams suffered his second heart attack in four years. His
left ventricle was only pumping 15 percent.
Williams is not alone. In fact, the United States accounts for about 25 percent of all the world's heart failure cases. An implanted defibrillator can shock the heart back into rhythm, and a heart monitor can tell doctors how dangerous the situation is.
Doctors offered Williams a brand new device that's a combination defibrillator and congestive heart failure monitor all in one.
"Those who need the defibrillator are usually the ones that need heart failure monitoring, so that's a unique opportunity to combine these two devices into one," cardiologist Eugene Chung, M.D., of The Christ Hospital in Cincinnati, tells Ivanhoe.
The device has wires that shock the
heart if the rhythm is off -- what a defibrillator normally does.
It also relays vital data, just like an implanted heart
monitor.
Dr. Chung says, "We can monitor pressures inside your heart and pressures inside your lungs, which actually tells us a lot about how you're doing."
Williams has a transmitter that connects to a phone line to send data to Dr. Chung's computer or PDA.
"The patient is able to send this data
to us anytime they want or we want," Dr. Chung says. Then doctors
can adjust medications and perhaps avoid further problems. The
device is implanted under the left collar bone. Doctors say this is
an invasive procedure and patients could suffer side effects like
swelling, bruising and infection. About 850 patients will be
evaluated for the study at 75 sites before it's submitted for FDA
approval. It runs on batteries designed to last about five
years.
Meanwhile, Williams says he's feeling much better just strumming along.
This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, who offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, go to: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.
If you would like more information, please contact:
Mayo Clinic
Rochester, Minn.
(507) 284-2511
