“Heart failure is a leading cause of death and nearly 5 million people in the United States suffer from it,” says Mariell Jessup, MD, Professor of Medicine and Medical Director of the Heart Failure and Transplantation Program at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP).
Jessup, along with David Callans, MD, Professor of Medicine and Director of the Electrophysiology Laboratory, served as co-principle investigators for HUP’s component of the largest heart-failure device trial ever undertaken to investigate whether an implantable pacemaker-type device will reduce death and hospitalization for advanced heart failure patients. Results from the three-year, multi-center Comparison of Medical Therapy, Pacing and Defibrillation in Chronic Heart Failure Study, or COMPANION, trial appear in the May 20th issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.