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1st Surgery for new treatment for fatal heart condition in Wyoming

CHEYENNE - First to Offer New Treatment for Fatal Heart Condition

Cheyenne Regional Medical Center announced that Leonard Lapkin, MD, a cardiovascular surgeon, performed the first TRISVRTM (tri-saver) Surgical Ventricular Restoration procedure in the Wyoming and northern Colorado area April 2005. The procedure reshapes the damaged heart back to its original form, helping the weak heart to pump more efficiently.

Lapkin performed the surgery to treat a 48-year-old man's heart failure after suffering with heart disease for 11 years. The patient previously received 3 stents, but this time nothing more could be done.

"It was this surgery or nothing," the patient said. "I was out of surgery at 4:30 p.m., sitting up in a chair at 1:30 a.m., and went home in 8 days." "I have more energy now, and feel blessed to have been able to be a part of this new procedure."

"The heart surgery offers promising results to people disable by congestive heart failure; including being not eligible for the heart transplant list," Lapkin said. "The surgery addresses the problem causing the symptoms and improves patients' quality of life. We are excited to be able to bring this leading edge, heart failure treatment to our community as a promising option to treat this problem."

Five weeks after the surgery, the patient said he mowed the yard for the first time in a year, and will go back to work in 2 ½ months. He said he was grateful to be alive and that he was living proof of the great surgeons and cardiologists at CRMC.

In the last two years, new technology has made the surgical option to treat heart failure less complicated and more widely available. The TRISVR procedure is anticipated to revolutionize the way physicians currently treat patients with congestive heart failure. The surgery, performed to help a man who had been disabled from his heart failure, went well and the patient is recovering and is now home and doing well.

The TRISVR procedure is anticipated to revolutionize the way physicians currently treat patients with congestive heart failure. Doctors are reporting that patients who have undergone the procedure no longer need to be considered for transplantation, as their own heart returns to almost normal function following the TRISVR surgery.

During the surgery, Lapkin utilizes a new device, known as the MannequinTM, to reshape the damaged heart back to its original form, helping the weakened heart to pump more efficiently. The Chase Medical TRISVR System, including the Mannequin Endoventricular Shaping Device, was recently FDA approved for market in the United States, and has also received CE Marking and is marketed in Europe.

Currently, patients with congestive heart failure are prescribed medications to treat their symptoms such as angina or chest pain, fatigue and shortness of breath. The surgical approach is designed to treat the problem causing these symptoms. The problem develops because the left ventricle, or main pumping area of the heart, becomes weak from an injury such as a heart attack. The ventricle, now out of shape and stretched thin due to compensating for the injury, is not able to pump blood properly through the body.

The heart surgery, known as TRISVR, helps treat a problem that affects five million people in the United States, or about one in 50. They suffer from a condition known as congestive heart failure - a damaged heart that is no longer able to pump enough blood through the body. Symptoms of the condition include swelling of the legs and ankles, shortness of breath, extreme fatigue and lack of energy.

In the U.S., 550,000 new cases of congestive heart failure are diagnosed each year. According to the American Heart Association, congestive heart failure, usually caused by a prior heart attack, is a fatal disease diagnosed in about 5 million people each year in the United States, and kills about 1,000 a day. In 2010, the number of people diagnosed is expected to increase by 40. Chase Medical, developer of the surgical device used in the TRISVR operation, reports almost 2 million patients suffering from congestive heart failure could potentially benefit from the TRISVR procedure.

The TRISVR surgery allows cardiac surgeons to standardize the procedure, providing the Mannequin shaper to more accurately reshape and resize the patient's left ventricle, and significantly improve its ability to pump blood more effectively.

The most common therapy for heart failure patients is medication, which treats the symptoms, leaving the heart in the same physical shape. The surgical approach is designed to treat the problem causing these symptoms. The problem develops because the left ventricle, or main pumping area of the heart, becomes weak from an injury such as a heart attack. The ventricle, now out of shape and stretched thin due to compensating for the injury, is not able to pump blood properly through the body.

Cheyenne Regional Medical Center is a full-service, acute care hospital providing a broad range of services, including emergency services, inpatient and outpatient surgery, diagnostic tests and services, maternity services and oncology services.

"Heart transplantation is only an option for 2,500 patients each year due to limited organ donation," says Dr. John Strobeck, Director of the Heart Lung Center, Hawthorne, NJ. This number represents only 20 percent of the people on the waiting list who could receive transplantation.

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