Implantable Device Can Improve Cardiac Function in Heart Failure Patients

In 2016, Lela Glass of Elyria, Ohio, began experiencing some unusual symptoms like shortness of breath and fatigue.

“I had no energy, and I didn’t know what was wrong,” she said. “My symptoms continued and the following year I passed out at church. Finally, I talked with my primary care physician who ordered some tests for my heart.”

Testing discovered that Glass had a leaky heart valve. She underwent open-heart surgery. But soon after she was also diagnosed with atrial fibrillation, and eventually heart failure.

“It was one thing after another,” she said. “I was in and out of the hospital. I had swelling in my hands and feet. And for years I was just so tired. I couldn’t even walk to the mailbox let alone get outside to work in my yard.”

“Lela had symptoms common to people suffering from heart failure, especially the fatigue,” said Michael Zacharias, DO, cardiologist with University Hospitals Harrington Heart & Vascular Institute. “When medications weren’t controlling her symptoms, we explored other options for her and decided she would be a good candidate for a therapy called cardiac contractility modulation – or CCM.”

UH Is First in Northeast Ohio to Offer New Heart Failure Treatment

CCM therapy is a relatively new, FDA-approved heart failure treatment proven to improve quality of life for patients that are no longer adequately responding to medications to manage symptoms or slow the progression of heart failure. This first of its kind therapy is intended to improve the contraction of the heart, allowing more oxygen-rich blood to reach the body. A device is implanted through a minimally invasive procedure. It delivers precisely timed electrical pulses to the heart and can be used in conjunction with medications and other heart failure therapies. It helps the heart work better and more efficiently.

UH Cleveland Medical Center was the first hospital in Northeast Ohio and among the first hospitals in the United States to use CCM therapy, delivered by the Optimizer® system, to treat patients suffering from heart failure.

“Patients who remain symptomatic from heart failure despite their guideline directed medical therapies can be considered for this therapy,” said Dr. Zacharias, who also treated Glass. “We review their ECG (electrocardiogram) and if patients are eligible and interested, we will work closely with their electrophysiologist about moving forward with an implant. That’s what happened in Lela’s case.”

Glass underwent the procedure in December of 2023.

“Lela’s procedure went well,” said Alberto Diaz, MD, an electrophysiologist with UH Harrington Heart & Vascular Institute who performed Glass’ procedure at UH Elyria Medical Center. “It’s minimally invasive, so we don’t have to open the chest which means less pain and a quicker recovery for patients. The procedure takes approximately 35 minutes to an hour.”

After years of negative symptoms, Glass reported feeling significantly better.

“Within two weeks I had a lot more energy. I wanted to be active. I wanted to walk, and exercise and work in the yard,” she said.

Glass, now 71 years old, still needs to be monitored by her cardiologist and has a defibrillator and pacemaker, but she’s living life in a way she hasn’t in years.

“I was tired of being tired and I wanted my life back, and now I have it,” she said.