BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Enhanced external counter pulsation (EECP) is used to treat angina. With sustained treatment this increases collateral circulation to the coronary arteries as well as to the body as a whole. We found some patients who underwent EECP for angina or congestive heart failure who also coincidentally had severe Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS). Case reports are presented. PATIENT...

27 BackgroundIn coronary artery disease patients, enhanced external counterpulsation (EECP) 28 improves peripheral arterial function and nitric oxide (NO) bioavailability, which have been 29 implicated in the pathogenesis of abnormal glucose tolerance (AGT). We sought to evaluate the 30 effects of EECP on outcomes of arterial function, glucose tolerance, and skeletal muscle 31 morphology in sub...

BACKGROUND Enhanced external counterpulsation (EECP) is effective in treating angina in coronary artery disease patients. Whether EECP produces similar immediate and sustained benefits and freedom from adverse events (MACE) at 1 year in patients with severe systolic dysfunction versus diastolic dysfunction is unknown. METHODS AND RESULTS Data of 746 angina patients with a history of heart fai...

Enhanced external counterpulsation (EECP) is known to reduce angina pectoris in patients in whom revascularization is not possible. The therapy is associated with few adverse effects. A case with a previously unknown complication - toxic shock syndrome - that occurred twice in an EECP-treated patient is described. Toxic shock syndrome initially resembles the state of septic shock. Early recogni...

Enhanced external counterpulsation (EECP) significantly augments diastolic blood flow and has been postulated to improve endothelial function by increased shear stress. We examined the effects of EECP on plasma nitric oxide and endothelin-1 (ET-1) levels. Plasma nitrate and nitrite (NOx) and ET-1 levels were measured serially in 13 patients with coronary artery disease who received 1-hour daily...

BACKGROUND Enhanced external counterpulsation (EECP) treatment can improve exercise tolerance in patients with ischemic heart disease; however, the possible benefits of EECP in patients with stable heart failure (HF) and left ventricular dysfunction (LVD) are unclear. An open pilot study showed significant increases in exercise tolerance in HF patients undergoing EECP. Thus a larger, controlled...

Enhanced external counterpulsation (EECP) is a noninvasive technique that provides beneficial effects for patients with chronic, symptomatic angina pectoris. However, the direct left ventricular effects of EECP have not been studied invasively. We examined invasive right atrial pressure and left ventricular hemodynamics during EECP. Ten patients referred for diagnostic evaluation underwent left...

BACKGROUND Propolis and its major constituent - caffeic acid phenethyl ester (CAPE) have good abilities on antitumor and anti-inflammation. However, little is known about the actions of propolis and CAPE on tumor in inflammatory microenvironment, and inflammatory responses play decisive roles at different stages of tumor development. To understand the effects and mechanisms of ethanol-extracted...

OBJECTIVES The goal of this study was to examine the effect of enhanced external counterpulsation (EECP) on endothelial function. BACKGROUND Enhanced external counterpulsation improves symptoms and exercise tolerance in patients with symptomatic coronary artery disease (CAD). However, the exact mechanisms by which this technique exerts its clinical benefit are unclear. METHODS Reactive hype...

BACKGROUND Mechanisms responsible for anti-ischemic benefits of enhanced external counterpulsation (EECP) remain unknown. This was the first randomized sham-controlled study to investigate the extracardiac effects of EECP on peripheral artery flow-mediated dilation. METHODS AND RESULTS Forty-two symptomatic patients with coronary artery disease were randomized (2:1 ratio) to thirty-five 1-hou...