Combo Device Stops Irregular Heart Beats, Cuts Heart Failure Risks, Research Says

Medical researchers say a new two-in-one heart device can correct irregular heartbeats and reduce a patient’s chances of suffering serious heart failure by nearly half.

But there may also be downsides to the new medical device, some experts caution, according to the Associated Press.

A defibrillator-resynchronization device prevented many patients from being hospitalized with heart failure, but it did not reduce the overall number of heart-related deaths in patients.  The high costs for the units (about $40,000) and risks surrounding the medical devices may mean doctors will not want to use them in patients.

Each year, about 60,000 patients with severe heart disease get the devices in the United States and more than five million Americans have some form of heart failure.

Defibrillators, pacemakers, and similar medical devices have been linked to thousands of patient injuries and deaths. Earlier this year, medical industry professionals called on Congress to give the Food and Drug Administration to crack down on the devices to prevent more problems.

Study Results Unveiled

Results of the new study were unveiled today at the European Society for Cardiology meeting in Barcelona and published online in the New England Journal of Medicine, according to the AP.

In most cases, researchers use these types of heart devices in patients with severe heart failure, but some medical experts are saying such products may be best used in patients with milder illnesses and conditions.

For the study, researchers led by the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York followed more than 1,800 patients diagnosed with mild heart disease for more than four years. Half of the patients were implanted with a defibrillator and the other half got the dual device of a defibrillator and a resynchronization element, which has an extra electrode that stimulates the left side of the heart.

The patients who got the two-in-one device had a 41 percent lower chance of developing heart failure, but women in the study did even better, posting a 63-percent drop. However, the death rate was about the same for both study groups, at about three percent.

Clyde Yancy, president of the American Heart Association called the study’s results an “incremental (improvement), not a breakthrough,” according to the AP.

Boston Scientific Corp., a leading manufacturer of medical devices including the studied heart defibrillators, paid for the study.

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