First Barostim Implant Completed at BGMC/GVI

Updated: Friday, January 5, 2024 4:10 PM

First Barostim Implant Completed at BGMC/GVI

Congratulations to the team at BGMC/GVI for completing their very first Barostim implant.

Buffalo General Medical Center/Gates Vascular Institute (BGMC/GVI), a Kaleida Health facility, announced the hospital's first successful implant of Barostim™ Baroreflex Activation Therapy, the world's first FDA-approved heart failure device to use neuromodulation - the power of the brain and nervous system - to improve the symptoms of patients with systolic heart failure. This therapy was designed to treat heart failure patients who may not be receiving adequate symptom relief from medications alone.

This procedure was performed by Awad El-Ashry, MD, cardiothoracic surgeon, BGMC/GVI, and clinical assistant professor of surgery, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo, and the team at BGMC/GVI.

Unlike other heart failure device therapies, Barostim contains no hardware in the heart or vasculature. It works by electrically stimulating baroreceptors - natural sensors located in the wall of the carotid artery - that tell the nervous system how to regulate heart, kidney and vascular function. These effects reduce the heart's workload and help it pump more efficiently, helping to restore balance to the autonomic nervous system and improve the symptoms of heart failure. Barostim plus heart failure medications has been shown to improve exercise capacity, quality of life and NYHA class, helping patients return to their daily activities.

"Utilizing cutting edge technology and devices for ever expanding heart failure patient population is a necessity, allowing us to provide the most advanced care to our community," said Dr. El-Ashry.

The heart surgeons at BGMC/GVI perform more than 1,000 open-heart procedures annually and have been rated among the highest top performers in the nation for heart surgery. Many of the invasive and minimally invasive procedures performed by Kaleida Health heart surgeons employ the most recent innovations in the treatment of cardiovascular disease.