VA Memphis Offers New Therapy to Treat Chronic Heart Failure
The Lt. Col. Luke Weathers, Jr., VA Medical Center became the first VA Medical Center in the region, and one of the earliest in the country, to perform a Cardiac Contractility Modulation (CCM) procedure. CCM is a new therapy that helps salvage heart failure patients with poor prognoses.
Chronic heart failure is a common health problem across the country, affecting over 6.5 million people in the U.S., resulting in an estimated annual treatment cost of over $30 billion. With Chronic Heart Failure having such an impact in the Mid-South, Cardiac Contractility Modulation is now an option for Veterans who are battling the disease.
CCM is a state-of-the-art device-based therapy option for heart failure that involves applying relatively high-voltage, long-duration, and biphasic electric signals to the right ventricular septal wall during the myocardial refractory period. Accordingly, CCM signals do not elicit a new contraction, but they influence the biology of the failing myocardium. CCM signals improve heart failure by improving ejection fraction. The goal is to provide a better quality of life for Veterans who suffer from chronic heart failure.
Together, Dr. Basu-Ray, Dr. Afamefuna Onuora, and their expert team of colleagues, nurses, and electrophysiology technicians successfully performed this procedure at the VA Medical Center in Memphis, TN, in April 2023.