Valley Health System this week announced the opening of The Knispel Center for Comprehensive Cardiomyopathy Care, which brings together cardiac specialists to meet the health-care needs of patients diagnosed with cardiomyopathy or congestive heart failure.
Cardiomyopathy is a disease of the heart muscle that makes it harder for the heart to pump blood. Heart failure occurs when the heart can’t pump enough oxygen to meet the body’s needs. Heart failure and cardiomyopathy are closely connected, but they don’t always occur simultaneously.
The Knispel Center combines the skills of specialists in pulmonary hypertension, cardiac critical care, advanced heart failure, cardiac surgery and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. This range of experience allows for the diagnosis and management of these cardiac conditions.
“We are grateful for the generous support of Barry and Isabel Knispel, whose gift will have a significant impact on the patients we serve,” said Dr. Suneet Mittal, chair of the Cardiovascular Service Line for Valley Health System.
Patients referred to the center have access to advanced treatment options. These include advances in medical management; innovative device-based therapies such as cardiac contractility modulation, a device implant to help your heart pump blood; carotid baroreceptor stimulation, a technique that involves electrically stimulating the carotid baroreceptor, which are pressure points in the carotid arteries, to help reduce symptoms of heart failure; and – if needed – a left ventricular assist device, which is a mechanical pump surgically implanted within a severely weakened heart to meet the body’s demands.
