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European Heart Journal 2004 25(8):626-628; doi:10.1016/j.ehj.2004.02.024
Copyright © 2004 by the European Society of Cardiology.
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Editorial

Nonexcitatory stimulation as a novel treatment for heart failure: cause for excitement?

Rik Willemsa and Karin R Sipidob,*

a Division of Cardiology, University Hospital Gasthuisberg, Herestraat 49, B-3000 Leuven, Belgium
b Laboratory of Experimental Cardiology, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

* Correspondence to: Tel.: +32-16-347-153; fax: +32-16-345-844
E-mail address: karin.sipido@med.kuleuven.ac.be

The first 10% of the full text of this article appears below.

This editorial refers to "Chronic electrical stimulation during the absolute refractory period of the myocardium improves severe heart failure"1 by G. Stix et al. on page 650.

The prevalence of heart failure is increasing and the "heart failure epidemic" is a growing socioeconomic burden to the public health sector.1 Although recent improvements in heart failure therapy have resulted in increased survival, the need for better treatment remains.2 In this issue, Stix et al.3 present their early experience with a new implantable device for the treatment of severe heart failure. The OptimizerTM II (Impulse Dynamics, NJ, USA) delivers electrical stimuli via 2 leads in the right ventricle. A 30-ms biphasic pulse is applied immediately after local activation, i.e., within the refractory period, a technique that has been coined "cardiac contractility modulation," . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Mechanisms that could explain CCM effects: favourable in the long-term?

Clinical relevance

Conclusion


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Related articles in EHJ:

Chronic electrical stimulation during the absolute refractory period of the myocardium improves severe heart failure
Guenter Stix, Martin Borggrefe, Christian Wolpert, Gerhard Hindricks, Hans Kottkamp, Dirk Böcker, Thomas Wichter, Yuval Mika, Shlomo Ben-Haim, Daniel Burkhoff, Michael Wolzt, and Herwig Schmidinger
EHJ 2004 25: 650-655. [Abstract] [Full Text]