Dr Jon's letter Simple Therapy Cures Heart Disease

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" Donna Clawson " <dclawson

Wednesday, February 27, 2002 7:18 AM

Dr Jon's letter Simple Therapy Cures Heart Disease

 

 

> THIS SOUNDS LIKE WITCHCRAFT!

>

> It is rare that mainstream medicine adopts a new

> procedure which sounds totally off the wall, and

> will impact their wallets big time!

>

> As most of you know, I have heart disease. An

> angioplasty in 1997 with a stint, then, progressive

> stenosis (blockage) of my carotid arteries. They

> are the big arteries, on each side of your throat,

> which carry blood to the brain.

>

> I declined an endarterectomy (roto-rooter the

> carotid arteries) due to the risks involved,

> both morbidity and (gasp) mortality!

>

> For eight months I have been on Joint Complex (five

> caplets) daily, and 300 mg of CoQ-10.

> A recent Doppler scan showed a surprising improvement

> in the stenosis of my carotid arteries.

> However, I an not " out of the woods " .

>

> This may be the answer for me. I would really like to

> be around for many more years in order to spend some

> of my money. DANG! I would hate to croak and leave

> all this behind. That would suck . . . big time!

>

> Please read about this bizarre procedure.

> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

> Mainstream Media is finally picking up on this safe

> non-invasive treatment for heart disease--AND its

> often covered by Insurance!!

>

> Passing on bypass - Non-surgical procedure put

> the squeeze on heart patients.

>

> Allen Quijada walked around the San Diego Zoo on

> Tuesday. He recently returned from a trip to Florida's

> Disney World and delights in telling how he bounced

> his grandson on his knee. He regularly goes for long

> walks around his neighborhood in Carlsbad.

> A few months ago, Quijada couldn't walk across

> the street without getting winded.

> " Now, I can do anything, " he said. " I can walk

> 10 miles. "

> Quijada, 73, was suffering from angina pectoris,

> or blocked arteries, which prevents oxygen from

> reaching the heart, causing chest pain, shortness of

> breath and other serious problems.

> Three stents had been put into his arteries to

> hold them open, and all three had been rejected by his

> body, Quijada said. Finally, he heard about Enhanced

> External Counterpulsation, a non-surgical procedure

> that increases blood flow toward the heart. It causes

> new blood vessels called collaterals to grow, creating

> in effect an organic bypass.

> Studies of the procedure show it has a success

> rate as high as 85 percent, and heart specialists are

> seeing it as a serious alternative to major surgery.

> The initial reaction from physicians, however, often

> is skepticism.

> " I thought it was a joke, " Dr. Franklin L.

> Murphy said about his first reaction to hearing about

> EECP treatment.

> But Murphy, a cardiologist and clinical

> professor of medicine at UCLA, now is sold on the

> procedure and believes it can replace 90 percent of

> bypass surgeries.

> " The surgeons will not be happy with this, but

> the patients will, " he said.

> Murphy's initial skepticism is understandable,

> considering that the procedure sounds like something

> hyped on a late-night infomercial.

> Imagine the body being squeezed like a tube of

> toothpaste, from the feet to the thighs, as a way of

> forcing blood toward the heart.

> Patients lie on a table with pressure cuffs ----

> inflatable bands similar to the ones strapped on arms

> to take blood-pressure readings ---- secured around

> their calves, lower thighs and upper thighs.

> The pneumatic cuffs inflate and deflate in

> sequence, first over the calves and then the thighs.

> The cuffs, synchronized with an electrocardiogram

> machine, are activated when the heart is at rest,

> between beats. Pressure on the cuffs is light in the

> first sessions but increases gradually until the

> patient's body jerks during the procedure.

> In North County, the treatment is provided by

> Cardiac Renewal Center in Oceanside, which opened in

> 2000. Legendary singer Frankie Laine underwent the

> procedure at that clinic in 2001.

> Patients go for 35 one-hour treatments over six

> or seven weeks. The treatment requires a physician's

> prescription and costs between $5,000 and $6,000, but

> is covered by most insurance.

> While the centers still are relatively new, the

> procedure dates to the 1960s, when therapists used it

> to increase blood flow in patients who had suffered

> heart attacks. At the time, nobody realized the heart

> would respond to the forced blood flow by growing new

> vessels.

> " They didn't know that it would do this, but

> they indeed found out, " Murphy said.

> Kristin Intress, director of sales and marketing

> for Cardiac Renewal Centers in Pacific Palisades, said

> EECP therapy was first created about 50 years ago in

> the United States, but since then has been used mostly

> in China, Japan and Europe.

> The Food and Drug Administration approved it for

> the United States in 1995, and in January 2000,

> Medi-Cal approved its coverage.

> The first Cardiac Renewal Center opened in Los

> Angeles two years ago with six beds, and today there

> are 10 locations, all within southern California. The

> company is the largest provider of the beds used in

> the treatment, but it does not have exclusive rights

> to the procedure. A cardiologist group can buy a bed

> and open a center, for instance, and at least two

> other companies also provide the treatment.

> In less than one year, this therapy has become

> available in most states.

> While Murphy said heart surgeons may not be

> pleased with a device that could cause them to lose

> patients, Intress said Cardiac Renewal Center regional

> managers are trying to educate physicians about EECP

> in hopes they will refer more patients for the

> treatment.

> " When a new product comes out, there's a lot of

> fear about how it will affect their patients, " said

> Intress. But physicians should overcome that fear and

> be open to EECP, Intress said, because not all of

> their patients are candidates for surgery, and an

> alternative treatment could be a matter of life or

> death.

> The treatment is painless ---- it's been called

> more uncomfortable for people watching it than doing

> it ---- and patients often pass the hour listening to

> music on headphones or even napping.

> But more important than that for Quijada, the

> procedure works.

> Quijada first tried to cure his painful angina,

> caused by a artery that was 99 percent blocked, five

> years ago. After his body rejected the three stents,

> he had a quadruple bypass operation in 1997. But by

> 2001, one of the bypass arteries had failed.

> " I wasn't getting any blood in there, " he said.

> " I was going downhill. "

> In June, Quijada was wearing nitroglycerin

> patches, but he still was in pain and getting weaker.

> " By August, I couldn't walk around the block, "

> he said. " If I walked across the street, I had to take

> a nitroglycerin pill under my tongue. "

> Quijada first heard about EECP from a doctor he

> knows from his church. He asked his cardiologist for a

> prescription, and his treatment began in October and

> was completed Dec. 3.

> " My first thought was, if it sounds too good to

> be true, maybe it is, " Quijada admitted. " I thought it

> was like rubbing chicken bones over it. "

> The treatments didn't hurt, but Quijada said he

> felt exhausted after coming home from the first five.

> " About the seventh treatment, I started to feel

> better, " he said. " After the 15th treatment, I walked

> from our house down to McDonald's, close to seven

> miles. "

> Carlsbad resident Clara Kornher, also 73, is

> more than halfway through her treatment. She is taking

> it as extra insurance after having seven stents

> inserted, including five to open blocked heart

> arteries.

> " I had every one of my arteries blocked, and I

> probably wouldn't have lasted a year if I didn't have

> it done, " she said.

> She has no complaints about the stents so far,

> but she said she didn't feel any stronger after they

> were inserted. She and her daughter learned about EECP

> from a news show, and she decided to try it to

> supplement the stents.

> " I had to have help to walk across the room, "

> she said, even after the stents were inserted. " I got

> a little better, but I couldn't get the mail. "

> Kornher stopped walking with her senior group

> because of exhaustion, but since starting the

> treatments she has begun again, attempting only a half

> mile so far.

> Murphy said most bypass surgeries could be

> treated instead with EECP, but he said not everybody

> is a candidate for the treatment.

> Those who should not have the treatment include

> those who have an aortic aneurysm that requires

> surgical repair, severe or moderate aortic

> insufficiency or recent blood clots, he said.

> Other than those exceptions, Murphy said, " I

> would never recommend bypass surgery for anybody. "

>

> For complete information click one of these links:

>

> http://www.eecp.com

>

> <a href " http://eecp.com " > AOL turkeys Click here</a>

>

> One can probably find the therapy in their state.

>