Glendale Heart Patient Trades Angina Pain and Shortness of Breath for Long Walks on the Beach After EECP® Therapy

New, Non-invasive Outpatient Procedure for Treating Heart Disease Available at the Office of Dr. Don W. Lee Improves Vascular Health and can Reduce Symptoms Associated with Coronary Artery Disease for Three to Five Years

GLENDALE, CA (I-Newswire) December 19, 2011 - The office of Glendale cardiologist Dr. Don W. Lee has announced the availability of Enhanced External Counterpulsation (EECP®) therapy, a clinically proven, non-invasive treatment for relieving chest pain, shortness of breath, and other debilitating symptoms associated with coronary artery disease. According to the office’s EECP® Coordinator, Ms. Romina Soleimani, the painless procedure has resulted in significantly reducing chest pain and other angina symptoms, such as shortness of breath or fatigue, for their patients who have completed a full treatment regimen of EECP® therapy.

“One patient in her seventies who hasn’t been able to walk for years was able to go to the beach and walk for two hours without any chest pain or breathing problems after completing EECP® therapy,” said Ms. Soleimani. “She was very happy.”

Ms. Soleimani said that during the EECP® procedure, three sets of inflatable pressure cuffs are wrapped around the patient’s calves, thighs, and buttocks. In synchronization with the patient’s heart beat, the cuffs are sequentially inflated from the calves to the buttocks, driving blood from the lower body into the upper body, where it widens restricted arteries and creates new collateral pathways to the heart.

“EECP® therapy is able to help those patients who are on maximal medication and those who have already undergone stenting or open heart surgery, but still suffer with chest pain, fatigue, or shortness of breath,” says Ms. Soleimani. “With this therapy they are able to become more active and are much happier.”

Ms. Soleimani said that one EECP® patient told her he was feeling so energized that he took his treadmill out of the closet where it had been stored for several years and began using it again.

“The patients who are undergoing EECP® are improving daily,” said Ms. Soleimani. “I can see their improvement. They have much more energy and stamina.”

According to information posted on www.eecp.com, more than one hundred and fifty papers on EECP® therapy have been published in peer-reviewed medical journals demonstrating EECP® to be safe, low cost, and effective in providing relief of symptoms caused by coronary artery disease for seventy-five percent of patients on whom it is applied. The therapy, covered by Medicare and most major insurers, is delivered on an outpatient basis in a series of daily one-hour sessions.

Studies have shown EECP® benefits last from three to five years, after which time additional EECP® treatments can be prescribed.

To learn more about EECP® therapy, please phone Dr. Lee’s office at (818) 247-0160 or write to Dr. Lee c/o CCI Medical Group, 1510 S. Central Avenue, Suite 150, Glendale, CA 91204, or contact his staff through the Web site, www.cardiacinstitute.com.

EECP® is a registered trademark of Vasomedical, Inc., Westbury, NY.