Novel Extra Aortic Counterpulsation Device for Enhancing Cardiac Performance

Heart failure is the fastest growing cardiovascular disorder. Incidence is rising at a rate of approximately 2% to 5% in people over 65 years of age, and 10% in people over 75 years of age [1]. Over 13 Million people suffer from heart failure in the USA, Europe, Canada and Australia, and heart failure is a leading cause of hospital admissions and re-admissions in Americans older than 65 years of age [2]. The secondary heart pump system is the expansion and recoil of the aorta which reduces heart load and drives left coronary artery blood flow. Increases in aortic stiffness are a result of elastin degradation due to ageing and/or cardiovascular diseases such as atherosclerosis [3–5], which increase heart load and pulse pressure [6–10]. Significantly higher aortic stiffness is found in hypertensive and heart failure suffers [6,7,9–11]. Specifically, healthy aged subjects have been found to have aortic stiffness 50% higher relative to subjects in a young and healthy group, while symptomatic hypertensive patients in heart failure have aortic stiffness further increased by approx. 77% relative to the age matched healthy cohort (i.e. by ∼88% relative to the young and healthy group) [11].