At Haifa’s Rambam Health Care Campus, the first successful implantation of the new Israeli-developed “CORolla” device for the treatment of diastolic heart failure. Photo: GPO.

JNS.org – Haifa’s Rambam Health Care Campus is the first medical institution in the world to successfully implant the new Israeli-developed “CORolla” device for the treatment of diastolic heart failure.

Medical professionals implanted the device in 72-year-old patient Robert MacLachlan, who had run out of treatment options for heart failure in his home country of Canada.

CORolla is an elastic device developed by the Israeli start-up CorAssist. It is implanted in the left ventricle of a beating heart using a minimally invasive procedure.

The device, invented by Rambam’s Dr. Yair Feld together with partners Dr. Yotam Reisner and Dr. Shay Dubi, improves heart function by placing pressure on the ventricle and helping fill the heart with blood.

“Patients turn to us for the ‘Rambam advantage,’” said Prof. Rafi Beyer, director and CEO of Rambam. “They know that Rambam’s physician researchers have access to some of the most innovative technologies and treatments.”

“I am proud that Rambam offers treatments to patients not available anywhere else in the world,” he said.

The Israeli Health Ministry has authorized up to 10 clinical trials of the device at Rambam to test the effectiveness of the new treatment.

Forty-percent of patients diagnosed with heart failure die within five years. The new cutting-edge Israeli-developed device stands to benefit 23 million people worldwide who suffer from the disease.