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The Lt. Col. Luke Weathers, Jr., VA Medical Center became the first VA Medical Center in the region, and one of the earliest in the country, to perform a Cardiac Contractility Modulation
(CCM) procedure. CCM is a new therapy that helps salvage heart failure patients with poor prognoses. Chronic heart failure is a common health problem across the country, affecting over 6.5
million people in the U.S., resulting in an estimated annual treatment cost of over $30 billion. With Chronic Heart Failure having such an impact in the Mid-South, Cardiac Contractility
Modulation is now an option for Veterans who are battling the disease. CCM is a state-of-the-art device-based therapy option for heart failure that involves applying relatively high-voltage,
long-duration, and biphasic electric signals to the right ventricular septal wall during the myocardial refractory period. Accordingly, CCM signals do not elicit a new contraction, but they
influence the biology of the failing myocardium. CCM signals improve heart failure by improving ejection fraction. The goal is to provide a better quality of life for Veterans who suffer
from chronic heart failure. Together, Dr. Basu-Ray, Dr. Afamefuna Onuora, and their expert team of colleagues, nurses, and electrophysiology technicians successfully performed this procedure
at the VA Medical Center in Memphis, TN, in April 2023.
