By Sanu George
Thiruvananthapuram, July 14 (IANS) A treatment for heart disease has for the first time in the country worked wonders for a renal failure patient from Kerala who lives in Abu Dhabi. The Enhanced External Counter Pulsation (EECP) therapy successfully treated Joseph Thomas, a diabetic patient for the past 18 years. The 57-year-old was on optimal medical treatment for the past six years and his doctors in the UAE advised renal transplant and hemodialysis as his only options. He was referred to India for further treatment.

Ajith Joy, an expert in EECP, told IANS: “The condition of Thomas was bad. I had high hopes from EECP because there was a published study from Germany where the treatment had shown improvement of renal function in patients with both liver and renal failure awaiting transplantation.”

Joy heads the Doctors Diagnostic Nuclear Medicine and Research Centre (DDNMRC) in the heart of the state capital. It is the only hospital in the state that uses EECP as a treatment protocol for treating heart patients.

“After 35 days of one hour a day EECP therapy that got over last month, Thomas improved remarkably both clinically and in the bio-chemical parameters.

“Post EECP therapy, he lost about six kg, his swelling had disappeared, urine output had doubled at half the dose of diuretic medication and his blood pressure had normalized at half his medication strength,” said Joy who was overjoyed as this was the first time in the country that a patient suffering from renal failure was treated using the EECP therapy.

This treatment involves 35 hours of non-surgical outpatient treatment where pneumatic cuffs (to measure blood pressure) are placed around the calves, thighs and buttocks.

“They are timed to inflate in progression - starting with the section around the calves - when the heart reaches its resting phase between beats. As each cuff inflates, it squeezes blood out of the legs and back to the heart,” he said.

He added that the study done in Germany on those patients suffering from renal failure after undergoing the EECP therapy has hugely improved the quality of life of the patients.

Thomas returned to Abu Dhabi after undergoing this treatment.

Joy, who has done the EECP therapy on 60 patients in the last one year with a weak heart, found that the patients who had kidney and liver ailments along with their heart disease got soothing relief.

He says that so far in the country there has been no documented profile of a patient suffering form renal failure undergoing the EECP therapy. His success story is being readied for being published in the Indian Medical Association journal.