CHICAGO – Northwestern Memorial's Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute is one of seven programs in the country participating in new study aimed at improving the heart's pumping action and helping to manage congestive heart failure symptoms. The US PARACHUTE trial tests the effectiveness of placing a small device in the left ventricle, or main pumping chamber of the heart. Northwestern Memorial physicians recently implanted the first study participant with the device; the individual is the sixth person in the United States to undergo the procedure.
Congestive heart failure is a condition in which the heart can't pump enough blood to the body's other organs and has a variety of causes. The US PARACHUTE trial looks at patients whose congestive heart failure was caused by a previous heart attack. Over time the increased workload of the heart can lead to a change called remodeling, which is the enlargement and thinning of the left ventricle. In time this can lead to more severe heart disease.
Many heart failure patients take a combination of drugs to treat heart failure symptoms such as shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, however they do not address remodeling which is the underlying cause. "The goal of the study is to return the ventricle to a normal shape, decrease heart failure symptoms and prevent the heart from further deterioration," said Charles Davidson, MD, principle investigator for the study, chief of the cardiac catheterization lab at the Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute and professor of medicine at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine.
The study device, developed and manufactured by CardioKinetix of Menlo Park, California, resembles an upside down parachute, is implanted in the left ventricle using a catheter which is inserted via a tube in the participant's leg artery. This may eliminate the need for open-heart surgery and general anesthesia and may also allow for faster recovery times.
Congestive heart failure affects approximately 5.3 million people in the United States. Symptoms of heart failure diminish an individual's quality of life. "Our hope is that the device is may be able to improve each patient's quality of life and longevity," commented Dr. Davidson.
For more information about heart failure or this study please visit the Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute online at http://www.nmh.org/nmh/heart/index.htm. The device is for investigational use only.
About Northwestern Memorial Hospital
Northwestern Memorial Hospital is one of the country's premier academic medical centers and is the primary teaching hospital of the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Along with its Prentice Women's Hospital and Stone Institute of Psychiatry, the hospital comprises 897 beds, 1,424 affiliated physicians and 6,464 employees. Northwestern Memorial is recognized for providing exemplary patient care and state-of-the art advancements in the areas of cardiovascular care; women's health; oncology; neurology and neurosurgery; solid organ and soft tissue transplants and orthopaedics.
Northwestern Memorial possesses nursing Magnet Status, the nation's highest recognition for patient care and nursing excellence, and it is listed in 10 clinical specialties in U.S. News & World Report's 2008 "America's Best Hospitals" guide. For nine years running, it has been rated among the "100 Best Companies for Working Mothers" guide by Working Mother magazine. The hospital is a repeat recipient of the prestigious National Quality Health Care Award and for more than a decade has been chosen by Chicagoans as their "most preferred hospital" according to the National Research Corporation's annual survey.