More than 23 million people around the world suffer from Diastolic heart failure, but there is currently no effective proven treatment for the condition in which the heart fails to pump sufficient oxygenated blood to meet the body’s needs.
A unique device developed by CorAssist, an Israeli start-up, however, now gives new hope to those who suffer from this medical condition.
Rambam Medical Center was the first to use this device in 72-year-old Robert MacLachlan, a Canadian man admitted specifically for this procedure after he ran out of treatment options in his home country.
The CORolla® is an elastic device that is implanted inside the left ventricle of the heart by a minimally invasive procedure on a beating heart. The device can improve cardiac diastolic function by applying direct expansion force on the ventricle wall to help the heart fill with blood. The CorAssist technology was invented by Dr. Yair Feld, a cardiologist at Rambam Health Care Campus (Rambam), together with partners Dr. Yotam Reisner and Dr. Shay Dubi.
Professor Gil Bolotin, Director of the Department of Cardiac Surgery, and Dr. Arthur Kerner, senior physician in the Interventional Cardiology Unit, led a multi-disciplinary team of cardiologists, heart surgeons, and other Rambam medical professionals in the recent first clinical implantation surgery on MacLachlan.
The Israel Ministry of Health has authorized up to 10 clinical trials at Rambam in Israel to test the efficacy of cardiac catheterization for placement of the CORolla® implant.
