Although heart failure is not a specific disease, it is a serious condition in which the heart fails to maintain enough blood flow to the body. Heart failure can be caused by a heart attack, clogged blood vessels, high blood pressure, diabetes, or an infection. Patients experience exhaustion, shortness of breath and cold fingers and toes.
Cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) is a unique device therapy used to treat heart failure. In the electrophysiology lab, physicians place a small biventricular resynchronization device under the patient's skin below the collarbone. This device is similar to a pacemaker in size, shape and weight, and it uses a sealed battery to provide electrical signals to the heart. But it also has three electrical leads, which are placed in three different heart chambers. This device causes the heart chambers to beat "in synch" with one another. This improves the heart's pumping efficiency and helps to relieve heart failure symptoms.