Cuff therapy boosts growth factor

From Anaheim, Calif., at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2001.

In many patients, a therapy in which inflatable cuffs placed on each leg squeeze blood back up to the heart can relieve angina, or chest tightness. Although physicians have used this so-called enhanced external counterpulsation therapy for nearly 50 years, the mechanism by which it alleviates angina has never been fully explained.