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Enhanced External Counterpulsation Improves Exercise Tolerance in Patients With Chronic Heart Failure

Arthur M. Feldman, MD, PhD, FACC^_*,_*, Marc A. Silver, MD, FACC, Gary S. Francis, MD, FACC, Charles W. Abbottsmith, MD, FACC, Bruce L. Fleishman, MD, FACC^||, Ozlem Soran, MD, MPH, FACC, FESC^¶, Paul-Andre de Lame, MD^#, Thomas Varricchione, MBA, RRT^_** for the PEECH Investigators

^_* Department of Medicine, Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Department of Medicine and the Heart Failure Institute, Advocate Christ Medical Center, Oak Lawn, Illinois
Department of Cardiology, The Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio
The Lindner Center, Cincinnati, Ohio
^|| The Cardiovascular Research Institute, Columbus, Ohio
^¶ UPMC Cardiovascular Institute, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
^# Anabase International, Stockton, New Jersey
^_** Vasomedical, Inc., Westbury, New York

View larger version (19K): [in a new window]   Figure 1 Enrollment and follow-up of patients in the PEECH study. EECP = enhanced external counterpulsation.

View larger version (15K): [in a new window]   Figure 2 The percentage of patients who had at least a 60-s increase from baseline in exercise duration and the percentage of patients with at least a 1.25 ml/kg/min from baseline at 6 months after treatment (co-primary end points; intent-to-treat analysis, last observation carried forward). VO2 = oxygen uptake. Solid bar = enhanced external counterpulsation; open bar = control subjects.

View larger version (13K): [in a new window]   Figure 3 Percentage of patients who improved in their New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional class (left) and mean change in quality-of-life score (right) at 1 week, 3 months, and 6 months compared with baseline. EECP = enhanced external counterpulsation.