A cardiac nurse’s take on Elvin Hayes’ testimony
Comments by a cardiac nurse who just “happened” to be present at the Gala…
“It sounded like Elvin has hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. There are multiple types of cardiomyopathy. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is a type of cardiomyopathy that causes thickening of the left ventricular muscle wall. Unlike other muscles in our body (biceps, quadriceps, etc) the heart does not function better when it is larger and thicker. Over time it begins to weaken from having to work harder to eject the blood from the left ventricle. Normal ejection fraction is 55-65%. Ejection fraction is the amount of blood that leaves the left ventricle each time the heart beats and feeds the body. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is often inherited and patients can go a long time without having symptoms. This is what often times kills young athletes suddenly.
Elvin’s wife stated that his ejection fraction was 15%. That is VERY low. This would cause extreme shortness of breath and exhaustion. His body is not getting an adequate amount of blood. It also causes blood to back up into the lungs because it is not ejecting into the body. This low ejection fraction and his condition puts him at a high risk to go into a lethal arrhythmia. With his heart being so weak already, if he were to go into a lethal arrhythmia it would be almost impossible for his body to get him out of this arrhythmia. The risk for lethal arrhythmias is why we put in an ICD (Implantable cardioverter defibrillator). It sounded like Elvin had a Bi-V ICD placed. Another name for this device is ICD with CRT (cardiac resynchronization therapy). An ICD has the ability to recognize a lethal arrhythmia and shock the patient with the lead that is placed inside the right ventricle. An ICD also has the ability to be act as a pacemaker. There are different types of ICDs. An ICD with CRT (Bi-V ICD) is the only device that can improve ejection fraction. There are 3 leads with this device. 1 lead is in the right atrium, 1 lead is in the right ventricle, and 1 lead is in the vein that wraps around the left ventricle. It is the lead that wraps around the left ventricle that can improve ejection fraction. Elvin’s wife said that he was diagnosed with a left bundle branch block. That means the ventricles are not beating in sync with one another. This device forces the ventricles to beat in sync and improves the way the muscle ejects the blood. Hints the name ‘resynchronization therapy.’
My understanding is that this device improves the ejection fraction about 5-10%. If Elvin was at 15%, the most it would improve is up to 25%. Some medications can help improve his ejection fraction a tiny bit as well. However, no amount of medication and CRT would ever get Elvin back to 55-65%. That is truly a miracle from God.
Also, I have never heard of the muscle wall shrinking in size and thinning like his did. I believe they can go in and do surgery to shave some of the muscle wall, but I have never seen that.
God truly did an amazing thing with Elvin.”
