Christine Webb, Your Health And Fitness
Congestive Heart Failure is a condition that affects about five million Americans.
Now there's new technology to help those patients live healthier lives.
In today's Health and Fitness report, News 13's Christine Webb takes us to Florida Hospital to see how it’s making a difference.
Doctors said it's really been hard to treat congestive heart failure up until now. They've treated patients with drugs and diuretics. Now they said this is the first real advancement in treating this condition.
Charles Ezell, 73, suffers from congestive heart failure. Today he's in for the new technique called aquaphersis.
It should help him with the buildup of excess fluid which accumulates in the lungs, liver and extremities from this condition.
"It's a tightness feeling and your legs swell," said Ezell.
Aquapheresis works by pulling a small amount of blood from the body through an IV. The blood is then returned to the patient's body through a second IV.
Florida Hospital is the first in Central Florida to use this new technique, which only takes a couple of hours.
"Essentially you are filtering the blood of excess water and the patient's weight dramatically drops," said Dr. Pradip Jamnadas, an interventional cardiologist from Florida Hospital.
"It's a lot faster than taking a normal diuretic," Ezell said.
Right now you can only have this procedure done at the hospital. However, doctors said that could change. The future could be doing this new technique in an outpatient office.
More than 500, 000 new cases of heart failure are diagnosed each year.
If you would like to see this story or other Health & Fitness stories, tune to News 13 On Demand at no extra cost. Just go to channel 313 on your digital cable.