Coronary artery disease (CAD) is a leading cause of death and disability worldwide. An estimated 17.6 million patients in the United States suffer from symptomatic CAD and despite optimal medical therapy, such as medications, per-cutaneous coronary intervention, and cardiac bypass surgery, there are an estimated up to 900,000 patients who suffer from disabling angina.

Despite these advances in surgical and international cardiology, up to a third of the patients with symptomatic CAD are not suitable for or cannot be fully circularized and need Alternatives To Heart Bypass Surgery and Alternative Treatment For Angioplasty. There are also patients in search of Alternative Treatment For Heart Blockage as they want to avoid surgery for cultural or financial reasons.

Enhanced external counterpulsation (EECP) is a non-pharmacologic Alternative To Bypass Surgery for angina pectoris and chronic heart failure (CHF). During diastole, cuffs inflate sequentially from the calves proximally to raise the diastolic aortic pressure and theoretically increase the coronary perfusion pressure. At the same time, an increased venous return would result in an increased cardiac output by Frank-Starling mechanism. Then, the cuffs are rapidly decompressed at the onset of systole creating a negative pressure that decreases the cardiac afterload. EECP is a low risk procedure and approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for refractory angina and CHF.