New Device Could Solve The Problem Of Diastolic Heart Failure

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Heart failure is the fastest growing type of heart disease in the country with a new case occurring every minute of every day.

For about half of those patients there are no effective treatments.

As CBS2's Dr. Max Gomez reported, a new device is being tested that could offer new hope for millions of patients.

A 6-minute walk test in the halls of a hospital told doctors a lot about the condition of Janet Wickham's heart.

"I'm 69, you know, what's happening with all this? You know, what's out there? What's new? But there hasn't been anything," she said.

Diastolic heart failure means Janet's heart pumps fine, but doesn't relax enough to fill up completely between beats. It causes blood to back up and build pressure in her lungs.

"This is when patients start having shortness of breath. Other than diuretics, we don't have any way of dealing with the patient's symptoms," Dr. Rami Kahwash, Ohio State's Wexner Medical Center said.

A new approach could change all of that. At the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Janet became the first patient in the U.S. to possibly test a dime sized implant.

During a heart catheterization doctors punch a small hole in the wall of a patient's heart and use a shunt to keep the hole open, so excess blood can drain from one side to the other.

"It's just like when you have a traffic jam, and instead of backing up all the way back to the lung, you create kind of a detour, that kind of takes you around the lung," Dr. Kahwash said.

It's intended to relieve the pressure and allow the patient's heart to work better. During the first ever randomized trial, enrolled patients will undergo a catheterization, half will get the device, half won't.

Patients and their doctors won't know who got the device until the trial is complete.

Janet doesn't know if she did, but was happy that doctors were testing new options that her family never had.

"I'm wanting to feel better, and what will be will be, but if there's a chance of something I want to try it," she said.

There have been small studies with the device in Europe which showed promising results, but this is the first trial to randomly assign patients to get the device or a sham procedure.

The device will be tested in a total of 40 patients at up to 28 different hospitals worldwide.