Alternatives for Reversing Heart Disease

An Innovative, Proven Alternative for Reversing Heart Disease

People want to be part of the healing partnership — to take charge of their own health, to get information, to have their families and their physicians participate. The rewards are great, ranging from meeting patients’ physical, psychosocial, and spiritual needs to facilitating the efficient management of resources, and cementing customer loyalty.

The American health system excels at treating disease and trauma, but trails much of the developed world when it comes to addressing the root causes of disease — and utilizing alternatives to traditional western medicine as part of an integrated treatment plan. Common sense and good economics dictate that we incorporate what works into our health care approach.

Today, we are moving beyond the traditional parameters of health care to include proven alternative interventions that advance the practice of medicine and involve individuals in the management of their health.

The Cost of Heart Disease

The need for alternative approaches is rapidly gaining support, particularly in the case of coronary artery disease (CAD), our nation’s most pressing health problem.

CAD affects more than 14 million Americans. It is the leading cause of death in the United States, killing more than 485,000 people each year.

The root causes are well known — and it is no secret that heart disease is largely preventable for most people. While genetics plays a role, the majority of risk factors are behavioral in origin — the result of a self-destructive lifestyle that includes a poor diet rich in fat, a sedentary lifestyle, an inability to deal effectively with stress, and emotional problems that lead to unhappiness, anger, and feelings of isolation or alienation.

CAD exacts a staggering financial toll on society. Consider the costs of revascularization:

In 1997, there were an estimated 607,000 coronary bypass surgeries performed in the U.S. on 366,000 patients — a 432 percent increase since 1979.
Also in 1997, approximately 447,000 Percutaneous Transluminal Coronary Angioplasty (PTCA) procedures were performed in the U.S. — a 188 percent increase since 1979.
The average cost of an arterial bypass in 1995 was $44,820, and total costs for all bypass surgery that year exceeded $22.2 billion.
The average cost-per-angioplasty in 1995 was $20,370, and the total costs for angioplasties performed that year was approximately $20 billion.
Medical care for someone with diagnosed heart disease will cost an estimated 136 percent more than care for someone without the disease.

These numbers do not tell the whole story. Missing are the costs of lives needlessly shortened, and of a quality of life needlessly reduced. Missing are the costs of lost productivity that occurs when people cannot work for weeks or months, or are forced onto disability by their heart disease. Also missing are statistics on what is perhaps the greatest cost of all — the disruptions to the lives of millions of heart disease sufferers and their loved ones, who must live with the uncertainty this condition causes.

The Need for Alternatives Rooted in Common Sense

As a young physician, Dr. Dean Ornish, president and director of the Preventive Medicine Research Institute, recognized not only the heart-mind-body connection, but the need to seek effective treatments for heart disease that attacked the root causes in ways that would reduce or eliminate risk factors instead of just addressing the symptoms. During more than two decades of exhaustive research, he realized that heart disease could be treated effectively and even reversed by teaching people to change their lifestyle in ways that reduced the risk factors.

His rationale was rooted in common sense. After all, it obviously would be more effective to treat the whole person to get to the root of health problems. Why not teach patients to eat more sensibly, strengthen their hearts through regular exercise, and manage stress instead of relying on medication or invasive surgery to treat high blood pressure or arterial blockages? His reasoning also had a financial basis. After all, the cost of preventive medicine that reduced cholesterol levels, improved blood flow in the heart, and increased oxygen capacity, and reduced stress would be far less than the exorbitant costs of invasive treatments that could be prevented if people were willing to change their lifestyles.

The Ornish Program

This belief in the power of preventive medicine, supported by the extensive research, led to the creation of the Dr. Dean Ornish Program for Reversing Heart Disease, the first and only Program scientifically proven to reverse heart disease without surgery or drugs.

The Ornish Program targets three primary groups:

Men and women who are contemplating bypass surgery or angioplasty, but are seeking an option that may reduce the need for these procedures;
Patients who have previously experienced one or more heart procedures and want to minimize the chances of repeating the process
People with significant risk factors for cardiovascular disease, such as high serum cholesterol, high blood pressure and a strong family history of heart disease.

The objectives of the Program are:

Reduction of blockages in coronary arteries;
Improvement of blood flow through the heart;
Reduction in chest pain (angina);
Reduction in serum cholesterol levels; and
Improvement in exercise capacity, sense of well-being, and satisfaction with life.

The Ornish Program requires a minimum one-year commitment and is designed to address one or more key risk factors tied to the onset and development of coronary artery disease. Participants — who are screened and approved following consultation with family primary care physicians and cardiologists — begin with an intensive 12-week course that teaches them to:

Adopt a very low-fat vegetarian diet (less than 10 percent of daily calories from fat)
Increase their physical activity level through low-impact exercise
Handle stress more effectively through relaxation techniques, including meditation
Identify and seek support for related emotional issues that lead to or result from heart disease.

The Ornish Program is conducted in a highly supportive atmosphere by a trained staff that includes a medical director, registered dietitian, exercise physiologist, stress management instructor, behavioral health clinician, nurse case manager, and Program administrator. Click here to view the Ornish Team at West Virginia University Hospitals. All participants remain under the care of their physicians, who receive regular progress reports. Because the Ornish Program is based on lifestyle modification, it poses no significant health risk.

The Program accepts only those people willing to commit to a major change in lifestyle. Following the initial three-month period, each participant’s Program schedule and goals are adjusted to reflect their progress and risk factors, and they continue to learn the required lifestyle adjustments for another nine months. Following their first year and “graduation” from the Program, ongoing support is always available from their Ornish team.

An Alternative That Works

The Program is demanding, but the participants are highly motivated and more than up to the challenge, because they know they are embarking on a change for the better. The results of the Program provide dramatic evidence of the power of lifestyle modification to reverse the effects of heart disease.

All participants achieved statistically significant reductions in all risk categories, including angina, blood pressure, cholesterol levels, weight and body fat, as well as in key perceived measurements of stress, hostility, and depression.
Participants also demonstrated marked improvement in both exercise and oxygen capacities.

Elsewhere, a landmark study conducted by Dr. Ornish found that 78 percent of Program participants were able to avoid bypass surgery or angioplasty.

Equally dramatic are the physical and emotional changes in participants. Graduates of this Program gain a clearer understanding of the behavior that can lead to heart disease, along with the no-nonsense approach they need to control that behavior. They embrace the Ornish lifestyle because it yields positive results. Just a few weeks after entering the Program, they begin to notice fewer and less severe chest pains. Physical activity becomes easier. Perhaps most important, their attitude toward life changes — they become genuinely happier, less hostile, and more able to cope with stress.

As Ornish Program participants note, it helps them regain control of their lives by using personal power they didn’t know they had. It’s experiencing a mental and spiritual lift that comes with achieving success. They have the knowledge to live a lifestyle that will enable them to live better lives.

It’s creating better health — and it’s a very powerful experience for all involved.

Participants’ physicians also recognize the benefits of the Ornish Program. Many physicians, hard-pressed for time and looking for ways to reduce costs, value the contributions of a registered dietitian, an exercise physiologist, a stress management facilitator and other Ornish team members.

The Economic Benefits of Preventive Cardiac Care

The Ornish Program offers equally dramatic economic benefits by enabling participants to forego costly invasive procedures and avoid cardiac events such as heart attacks. Given the national average cost of more than $40,000 for bypass surgery and more than $30,000 for angioplasty, the Program has generated significant savings. For example, Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania has reported savings of approximately $17,000 per participant — a conservative estimate that does not include the cost of avoided heart attacks, medications, or cardiac rehabilitation, or the fact that up to half of bypass and angioplasty recipients will require a second procedure in the future.

Knowledge Is More Than Power — It’s Good Health

The Ornish Program is health care at its most basic and most effective — knowledge that enables people to prevent disease. For most Program participants, the Ornish lifestyle is a revelation from which there is no turning back — a road map to a healthier, fuller life.

For the health care industry — including physicians and insurers — it is a striking example of the power of prevention, and of the potential of alternative medicine to transform the way we deliver health care in the United States.

For More Information

Individuals interested in applying for the Ornish Program, and primary care physicians and cardiologists with qualified candidates, should call West Virginia University Hospitals Ornish Program office at 304-293-2520 or email ornish@wvuh.com for more information.