THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In a first of its kind in the country, a new treatment for heart patients has been experimented in the capital. The treatment named Cardiac Contractility Modulation (CCM) has been introduced in the country by Dr C Bharath Chandran, Cardiology head of SUT Royal Hospital, Ulloor.
He successfully experimented the treatment on a heart patient Harishankar on December 12. The new treatment could be a relief to the heart patients at a time when ambulances have to speed from one part of the state to the other for transporting heart for transplantation.
Bharath Chandran said the CCM could be a fine replacement for a heart transplant and it helps the patient recover soon. The CCM is done by passing an electric impulse through two electrodes positioned in the right ventricle of a heart on two select points. The same electrodes used in pacemakers are used for the procedure.
“Despite the availability of many new drugs and devices, heart failure remains a major problem with a five-year mortality as high as fifty per cent. The treatment is well accepted in European countries. It was not introduced in India until I visited a company named ‘Champak enterprises’ in Bengaluru. Through that company, I contacted a German firm ‘Impulse Dynamics’. It is learned that over 3,000 implants have been done in European countries. The electrodes are supplied by well-known pacemaker company St Jude US,” Bharath Chandran said.
The CCM therapy relieves symptoms, improves the pumping function of the heart and prolongs life expectancy in case of heart failure. “ The cost of the therapy will be around Rs 30 to 35 lakh. But it will completely cure a heart disease. I will explain the advantages of the new treatment technique at the cardiology meetings to make the other doctors aware of this new technology in heart treatment,” Bharath Chandran said.