The Heart Lung and Blood Institute recently awarded Dr. Randy Braith an NIH grant. The grant budget is 1.2 million, and the grant title is "Effects of Enhanced External Counterpulsation (EECP) on Arterial Function."

Enhanced external counter pulsation (EECP) is a non-invasive modality for the treatment coronary artery disease patients who are not candidates for standard revascularization procedures. EECP is efficacious in decreasing angina episodes, nitrate usage and hospitalizations. The popular hypothesis is that EECP improves myocardial perfusion. However, this is only a theory and has not been proven in humans. Our pilot data show no improvement in cardiac perfusion after a course of EECP.  Alternatively, we propose that EECP improves peripheral vascular function, particularly in the legs. We further hypothesize that peripheral vascular adaptations are responsible for reducing cardiac oxygen demand and the anginal symptoms. We will test our hypothesis by randomly assigning 30 patients to a group that will receive 35 1-hour sessions of EECP and 30 patients to a group that will receive sham-EECP.  A battery of vascular studies will be performed at study entry, and after 17 and 35 EECP sessions.

-Dr. Randy Braith