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ShareApril 1, 2008 — Biomedical engineers designed a machine that removes the excess sodium and water from blood. If not removed, those items can compromise breathing and heart function. An intravenous catheter withdraws blood and removes fluid before returning it to the body. The process is intended to reduce swelling and ease the load on the heart.
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Five million Americans suffer from congestive heart failure, a debilitating illness that can seriously compromise a patient's quality of life. And as the population ages, the number of people diagnosed with the disease is growing by eight percent each year. Now, as Ivanhoe reports, a new procedure is helping patients feel better and get their condition under control.
Recently, Ken Richard thought he was running out of time. Fluid overload was literally suffocating him. "I'd sit in an easy-chair and I'd press on my back and I couldn't breathe," Richard recalls. "I'd lay on the bed and I couldn't breathe. I'd walk 15 feet -- couldn't breathe."
The diagnosis -- congestive heart failure. Fluid builds up in the body, causing swelling and interfering with the heart's ability to function. "It was quite serious," Yvens Laborde, M.D., an internal medicine specialist at Ochsner Medical Center in New Orleans, told Ivanhoe. "The main thing was he actually has a significant compromised cardiac function."
The diagnosis -- congestive heart failure. Fluid builds up in the body, causing swelling and interfering with the heart's ability to function. "It was quite serious," Yvens Laborde, M.D., an internal medicine specialist at Ochsner Medical Center in New Orleans, told Ivanhoe. "The main thing was he actually has a significant compromised cardiac function."
"Oh, it makes an incredible amount of difference for a number of reasons," Dr. Laborde explains. "Number one, it's safe, it's very effective and it's predictable, and the amount of fluid that you remove, you can remove it very controllably."
Though this process used to be used only for patients with kidney disease, new studies have found it has a dramatic effect on patients with congestive heart failure and can be more effective than traditional treatment with diuretics.
In 38 hours, Aquadex removed 20 pounds of fluid from ken's body. "It reduces the amount of congestion and fluid retention and so what happens is it actually enables his heart function -- his cardiac function -- to improve," Dr. Laborde says. Now, ken is feeling like himself again ý grateful to have his life back.
Congestive heart failure leads to more than three million hospitalizations every year in the United States, at a cost of more than 23 billion dollars. Doctors say this new procedure actually reduces the amount of time patients spend in the hospital and the chances they'll have to come back for further treatment.
HAVE A HEART: The heart pumps 5.6 liters of blood through the entire body in roughly 20 seconds; each day your blood travels some 12,000 miles, and your heart beats about 100,000 times. This delivers oxygen and other essential nutrients to the body's cells and organs.
A heart attack occurs when the blood supply to the heart muscle is cut off, either because part of the heart is damaged (such as the valves to the chambers), or because plaque has built up inside the arteries, narrowing them and severely restricting blood flow. Symptoms of a heart attack include a squeezing discomfort in the center of the chest, pain or tingling in the left arm, shortness of breath, and sometimes a cold sweat, nausea, or dizziness.
ABOUT HEART DISEASE: Most heart diseases arise from hardening of the arteries, especially the buildup of fatty material along the inner lining of the arteries. Coronary arteries supply blood to the heart. When a blockage occurs, this flow is decreased. Heart medications target these blockages in several different ways. Nitrates dilate the veins, decreasing the oxygen requirements of the heart. They also dilate the coronary arteries to increase blood flow to the heart. Beta-blockers decrease the heart rate and the force of the heart's contractions. Aspirin prevents platelets in the blood from clotting and clumping on blood vessel walls.
Editor's Note: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.
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