Heart Disease Treatment: OPTIMIZER Smart Mini

While heart disease cannot be cured or reversed, there are many treatments and interventions available to reduce and alleviate its effects. One notable intervention is the OPTIMIZER Smart Mini which was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in April of 2022. This intervention is aimed at treating moderate to severe heart failure.

The OPTIMIZER Smart Mini is a minimally invasive device implanted into the heart and delivers an electrical pulse. It delivers the pulse to the heart cells during the absolute refractory period of the heartbeat cycle. The absolute refractory period is the moment right after the heart contracts. The electrical pulses cause the ventricular muscles, the muscle chambers that pump blood out of the heart into the circulatory system, to contract producing a heartbeat and the pumping of blood throughout the body.

This treatment is novel because it uses CCM therapy. CCM therapy, cardiac contractility modulation, enables the device to precisely time its pulses to be sent during the absolute refractory period. It is also worth noting that there are potential adverse effects of this intervention such as arrhythmias (improper beating of the heart).