Evaluation of the role of enhanced external counter pulsation in patients with chronic heart failure

Background: The incidence of Chronic Heart failure (CHF) has reached epidemic proportions in developing countries. The prevalence also increases as the patient population ages. Heart failure accounts for between 5% and 10% of all hospital admissions and is the most frequent cause of hospitalization in the elderly. The aim of this single centre observational study was to find out the efficacy of EECP in improving functional capacity and LV function in symptomatic chronic heart failure patients with mild to moderate LV dysfunction irrespective of their etiology.Methods: Thirty-six symptomatic patients in NYHA class II and III were included in this study. All the patients underwent one hour EECP therapy for thirty-five sessions over a period of seven weeks. NYHA classification, six-minute walk test, two dimensional and Tissue Doppler Echocardiographic examination were done before and after EECP therapy.Results: At the end of EECP therapy there was improvement in functional class. Eleven out of thirty-six patients were asymptomatic. The mean distance covered in six-minute walk test was also significantly increased after the therapy. The Echocardiographic parameters like Ejection Fraction (EF), Systolic excursion of mitral valve annulus (S'), Ratio between mitral flow E Velocity & Mitral annular E velocity (E/E’) significantly improved after EECP.Conclusions: In this study, it was concluded that there was significant improvement in symptoms, functional capacity and LV function in Chronic Heart Failure patients after EECP therapy.