EECP for Patients

How EECP Works

Angina is a signal from your heart muscle that it is not receiving enough blood and oxygen because the arteries that supply the heart muscle are blocked or narrowed. Angina, often called "chest pain," can also be pain down the left arm, between the shoulder blades, or in the jaw.

Heart failure occurs when the heart muscle becomes so weak it cannot pump enough blood to meet the demands of the rest of the body. There are two types of heart failure:

• Ischemic is the most common type of heart failure. The heart muscle is damaged by a long-standing lack of sufficient blood and oxygen, or by a heart attack.
• Idiopathic or non-ischemic. Possible causes include a viral infection of the heart muscle, disease of the heart valves, high blood pressure, or the abuse of alcohol or drugs. Or the cause could be unknown. Heart failure symptoms include having trouble breathing and feeling very tired after even a small amount of effort.

EECP therapy works by increasing the blood and oxygen supply to the heart muscle and decreasing the amount of work the heart has to do to pump blood to the rest of the body. While the heart is at rest, the treatment cuffs inflate from the calves to the thighs to the buttocks, which increases the blood supply to the arteries feeding the heart muscle. Just before the next heart beat, all the cuffs deflate at the same time, which decreases the amount of work the heart has to do.