EECP relieves chest pain, breathlessness after Covid
Dr S.S Sibia
Globally about 50% COVID-19 patients have prolonged symptoms even six months and more after the acute infection. This is known as long Covid and patients may have brain fog, fatigue, chest discomfort, breathlessness, and difficulty in walking. Sometimes the after-effects of Covid are so severe that patients cannot even go to work.
The Journal of the American College of Cardiology in its February edition reported that Long Covid patients improved their cardiac and cerebral perfusion resulting in improvement in the after-effects of Covid with External Counter Pulsation (EECP) therapy.
Patients felt less weakness, could walk more, walk faster, reduced chest pain, easier breathing, improved memory, and brain function, and many could return to work.
EECP is a non-invasive technique where patients lay on a treatment table and are fitted with large size pressure cuffs on the legs and arms. These cuffs inflate and deflate synchronizes with the patient’s electrocardiogram to push oxygen-rich blood to the heart muscle, brain, and rest of the body. Each treatment session is of one hour and typically a patient undergoes 35 treatment sessions in three to seven weeks.
Dr Sibia who introduced EECP in the region informed that initially EECP was used to treat coronary artery disease patients at high risk or unfit for stent or heart bypass surgery.
Clinical trials showed that by increasing blood flow to the whole body EECP also benefits patients having high blood pressure caused by the narrowing of the arteries that carry blood to your kidneys, Paralysis due to Cerebral stroke, Parkinson’s tremors, hearing, eye vision, Erectile Dysfunction, etc. With this new study, the EECP Department of Sibia Medical Centre will be able to serve patients having fatigue, breathlessness, chest pain, chest discomfort, decreased memory and brain function, and other after-effects of Covid.
(The author is Director, Sibia Medical Centre, Ludhiana)
