Development of a Novel Therapeutic Strategy for Cardiovascular Disease With Use of Accelerating Bed

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The whole-body periodic acceleration (WBPA) bed has recently been developed as a "passive exercise" device by providing increased pulsatile shear stress for improvement of vascular endothelial function. In the present study, we evaluated the effects of the WBPA treatment on exercise tolerance in patients with chronic stable angina, coronary flow reserve in healthy subjects and patients with coronary artery disease, and vascular endothelial function in type 2 diabetic patients. In angina patients, 20 sessions of the WBPA treatment improved the treadmill exercise tolerance, myocardial perfusion at rest and during adenosine infusion, and left ventricular remodeling. Only one session of the WBPA treatment ameliorated coronary flow reserve in patients with coronary artery disease as well as in normal subjects. In type 2 diabetic patients, the impaired vascular endothelial function was augmented by 10 sessions of the WBPA treatment, and the improvement was associated with the increase in the number of endothelial progenitor cells. These promising results of the WBPA treatment provide a possibility that the treatment will be a novel therapeutic strategy for a variety of cardiovascular diseases.