What is EECP treatment?

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EECP treatment refers to a type of treatment using Enhanced External Counter-Pulsation. This treatment is essentially prescribed for patients with heart problems like angina or cardiomyopathy among many other diseases. In these heart conditions, the heart is unable to receive enough blood and pump out enough of it with every heartbeat. Depending on the actual heart condition, some people may have problems with their coronary arteries while others have weak cardiac muscles. Through EECP, the heart is literally assisted with its basic function of pumping blood for the various organs and systems of the body.

Enhanced External Counter Pulsation treatment is considered a very safe treatment for various heart conditions because the procedure is non-invasive and the heart pumping assistance is only mechanical. Equipment used for EECP involves inflatable cuffs that are wrapped around the legs of patients suffering from a heart condition. These cuffs are similar to the ones used for measuring blood pressure. With patients lying done, the inflatable cuffs alternately inflate and deflate in synchrony with the patient’s heartbeat. The manual or mechanical cuffs are guided by a computer that determines when to time the inflation and deflation which is supposed to be time with the patient’s heartbeat. The inflation is timed as the end of one heartbeat and the cuffs are deflated just at the beginning of another heartbeat. With this inflation and deflation sequence, blood is literally pumped up from the legs towards the heart and therefore helping it distribute blood to other parts of the body more effectively.

Aside from the help provided by EECP in providing blood flow assistance to the coronary arteries, the treatment also helps reduce the work exerted by the heart in pumping blood to the arteries. Some patients literally have weak heart muscles and need assistance in terms of the heart’s basic pumping action. Through EECP, many of these patients heart function and blood flow will be improved.

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