GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The Heart, Lung and Blood Institute awarded a $1.2 million grant to University of Florida College of Health & Human Performance professor Dr. Randy Braith to research the effects of enhanced external counter pulsation, also known as EECP.

EECP is a therapy designed for people who continue to suffer from angina, or chest pains, even after drug treatment and surgery. Angina occurs when the heart does not receive enough oxygen.

“We hypothesize that EECP reduces arterial stiffness, increases blood flow to the large muscle groups in the legs. We speculate that this peripheral adaptation to EECP decreases the heart’s demand for oxygen,” Braith said. “This means less work for the heart and reduced angina symptoms for the patient.”

Braith said when tested on dogs, results showed an increase in vessels delivering blood to the heart muscle.

“However, when we tested EECP on humans, there were no signs of an increase in blood vessels to the heart,” Braith said.

“The question now is, ‘what is the EECP mechanism that makes patients better,’” Braith said.

During therapy, patients have cuffs around their upper and lower legs. With each heartbeat, the cuffs inflate then relax, Braith said.

The research team will test their hypothesis by randomly selecting 30 patients to undergo 35 one-hour EECP sessions and 30 patients who will act as a control group and receive “sham-EECP.” After seven weeks of therapy, the control group will have the opportunity to receive actual EECP treatments.