Heart-support treatment linked to improved cognition in early Alzheimer’s trial

Randomized comparison of high-pressure ECP with low-pressure sham

ScienceAlert reports that researchers randomized 190 people with mild cognitive impairment or early Alzheimer's disease to full-pressure external counterpulsation (ECP) or a low-pressure, unsynchronized sham treatment. ECP uses inflatable cuffs around the lower body to support circulation. According to the report, the full-pressure treatment was associated with improvements on cognitive tests and measures of everyday activities during six months of treatment.

The report describes ECP as an established circulatory-support treatment for certain heart conditions, but says robust evidence for its use in cerebrovascular disease was not yet available. The trial compared full-pressure ECP with a low-pressure, unsynchronized sham treatment.

In the reported six-month trial, the full-pressure group showed greater improvements in cognitive and daily-function measures than the sham group. The report says benefits persisted for some participants after treatment stopped, but larger and longer studies are still needed.

The finding suggests a non-invasive circulatory-support approach might affect symptoms of early cognitive decline. It does not establish that ECP changes the course of Alzheimer's disease, and the report says the study's sham treatment was imperfect, diagnoses were clinical rather than biomarker-confirmed, and further research is needed.