subject: Eecp Treatment For Angina [print this page] Enhanced External counterpulsation (EECP) is a course of action performed on persons suffering from angina to relieve from pain. The treatment also improves exercise tolerance and decreases the degree of ischemia in a cardiac stress test. It is the treatment that allows the heart to heal without the need of surgery.
Angina is chest pain or discomfort that occurs for an individual when an area of heart muscle doesn't receive enough oxygen-rich blood. Angina may feel like pressure or squeezing in your chest. This is may be because of narrowing of the coronary arteries as a result of arteriosclerosis. Pain can also be observed at shoulders, arms, neck, jaw, or back. Angina pain may even feel like indigestion.
Enhanced external counterpulsation (EECP) may be the best choice for treating angina symptoms when all other options of treatment have failed. In a recent issue of Cardiology, it was reported that EECP works even better in patients who have not yet undergone persistent treatment for angina.
The procedure of EECP therapy involves wrapping up of long inflatable cuffs (like blood pressure cuffs) around both of the patients legs. The leg cuffs are inflated and deflated with each heartbeat. This is accomplished by means of a computer that triggers off the patients ECG so that the cuffs deflate when each heartbeat begins, and inflate when each heartbeat ends. The process will occur in a sequential fashion, so that the blood in the legs is milked upwards, toward the heart.
This inflation/deflation cycle occurs for about 60 to 80 times per minute during an EECP session. Sessions last approximately 1 to 2 hours once in a day. A full course of EECP treatment lasts 7 weeks, with about 35 hours of treatment time. EECP therapy significantly improves most of the patients tolerance for angina due to coronary artery disease.
EECP treatment procedure is a noninvasive one, which does not include any surgical operations.
There will be no needle pricks, even. And thus EECP is very low risk. There is even no need to take any special medications before or after the treatment and the patient can go home immediately after the treatment. The most common adverse side effects are skin abrasions, bruising, or blistering due to the inflatable cuffs. Some people also feel minor pain in their legs and back.
by: Kathy
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