Baptist Health first in region to offer new heart failure treatment

Baptist Health is the first health care system in the region to implant an innovative, pacemaker-like device to improve cardiovascular function in advanced heart failure patients.

Heart failure, which happens when the heart cannot pump enough blood and oxygen to support other organs in the body, impacts about 6.2 million adults in the U.S.

The BAROSTIM NEO® System is a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved electrical stimulator. The device is implanted under the collarbone with a lead going up to the carotid artery, where it stimulates the heart’s natural blood pressure sensors. These sensors, called baroreceptors, detect the blood pressure and send the information to the brain. The brain responds by allowing proper blood pressure to be maintained via relaxing blood vessels, slowing the heart rate and reducing fluid in the body through improved kidney functioning.

This summer, the first BAROSTIM NEO® implant took place at Baptist Medical Center Jacksonville, followed by three other procedures on the same day. The lead vascular surgeon performing the procedure, Erin Moore, MD, a vascular surgeon who has a private practice in Jacksonville and performs surgeries at Baptist Medical Center Jacksonville, was joined by Baptist Heart Specialists’ clinical cardiac electrophysiologists Christopher Austin, MD and Aaditya Vora, MD.

"We are excited to bring this new technology to our advanced heart failure patients. The BAROSTIM NEO® implant uses the power of the brain and nervous system to help these patients feel better, be more active and have a better quality of life,” said Dr. Moore.

BAROSTIM NEO® placement requires a minimally invasive procedure under general anesthesia and can be done as an outpatient procedure. The patients usually go home the same day or the next day.

“The device is continuously fine-tuned to provide optimal stimulation to the carotid baroreceptors, which in turn, allows the body to turn off many of the negative signals that impact the heart,” explained Dr. Vora. “It may be turned on and off by medical personnel following implantation and is even programmable for the individual patient’s unique cardiac health.”

“This device can change the trajectory for advanced heart failure patients,” said Dr. Austin. “It offers substantial relief to those patients who have not been helped by medical therapy or who are not candidates for other cardiac devices.”

BAROSTIM NEO® was one of the first therapies to receive the FDA's Breakthrough Device Designation. This accolade is reserved for distinctive therapies that are meant to treat a life-threatening or irreversibly debilitating disease where there is no available treatment alternative.

To view an animated video from the device manufacturer, visit Box.