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A 73-year-old retired teacher is among the first patients to have an investigational mesh "jacket" positioned around her enlarged heart to improve its function. Researchers hope the CorCap cardiac support device will help slow or reverse the effects of advanced heart failure by returning the heart to a more natural shape.

"For this patient and many others like her, the experimental Acorn device may help extend and improve quality of life," says Dr. Kathy Magliato, cardiothoracic surgeon and one of two principal investigators studying the device at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. "Based on the progress she is ma 'king, we hope that she will be able to resume her routine activities within weeks."

CorCap, developed by Acorn Cardiovascular, Inc., consists of stretch polyester fiber designed to encourage the heart to revert to its natural shape without interfering with normal pumping action. When the heart's pumping ability is impaired for any reason, the organ tends to grow larger to increase output. As the heart enlarges, however, its shape becomes distorted and the ventricles pump even less efficiently.

The Acorn trial is recruiting patients at medical centers in Alabama, California, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Washington, D.C. Patients aged 18 to 80 years with class III or early class IV heart failure may be eligible for the study.