Electrical Impulse Device Improves Heart Failure Symptoms

An innovative device delivers non-excitatory cardiac contractility modulation (CCM) signals to the heart muscle, initiating multiple biochemical and neurohormonal changes in the myocardium.

The Impulse Dynamics (Stuttgart, Germany) Optimizer Smart implantable device is designed to deliver CCM signals during the absolute refractory period, just after the heart’s excitation. As a result, the contractility of the myocardium increases, with no concomitant increase in oxygen consumption, enabling the heart to operate more efficiently. Therapy is based on an implantable pulse generator (IPG) unit that senses the heart’s electrical activity and delivers CCM signals via two electrodes placed in the right ventricle.

The IPG unit is recharged on a weekly basis using a home-based charger system, without supervision, which assures it has enough energy to provide therapy for years, minimizing the need for battery replacement. The charger has a built-in display that provides instructions and feedback to the patient about the charging process. A portable programmer allows medical personnel to customize and optimize signal parameters according to individual patient needs, with dynamic evaluations made using the patient’s electrocardiogram (ECG) and marker channels.

”CCM technology meets a major need globally, and we are committed to demonstrating the value of CCM therapy to healthcare systems worldwide to benefit more patients with heart failure,” said Simos Kedikoglou, MD, CEO of Impulse Dynamics.

“CCM therapy is a new therapeutic method used internationally to treat patients with chronic cardiac insufficiency,” said Professor Christian Wolpert, MD, of Ludwigsberg Clinic (Germany). “We have been applying this therapy to treat patients who have remained symptomatic despite a patient-specific medicinal regime at the Ludwigsburg Clinic for over four years now. Clinical studies have demonstrated that CCM positively enhances overall patient quality of life and physical exercise tolerance.”

CCM therapy is most suitable for patients with advanced heart failure (HF), a reduced ejection fraction (EF) higher than 20%, and normal QRS duration that cannot benefit from other device-based treatments, such as a cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) implantable device with pacemaker functionality.

Related Links:
Impulse Dynamics
Ludwigsberg Clinic