How does the patient know it benefits him ?

• Patient starts feeling better in 3-5 days. His chest pain become less & his difficulty in
  breathing becomes better.
• He can walk longer distances without onset of chest pain. His daily need of sub lingual
  nitrite tablets (sorbitrate or GTN) reduces dramatically.
• TMT or exercise test is done before and after EECP. The ST segment depression seen
  before is markedly decreased eg. a 2-3mm ST depression can easily become 0.5-1mm
  after 35 days of EECP. The patient who could exercise say 4mins on the treadmill earlier can
  now exercise 10 mins without onset of chest pain or breathlessness.
• Echocardiography is done before and after EECP. Ejection fraction or the efficiency of the heart
  improves from say 25% to 40% after 35 days of treatment.
• There may be visible improvement in the ECG in the form of heart rate, ST segment depression
  & ectopics.
• Stress thallium done before and after shows improved perfusion i.e. blood flow can be seen
  in those areas of the heart which were earlier starved of blood. Thus we see a marked
  improvement in almost all parameters of cardiac function measured before and after EECP.

So the good effects of EECP can not only are felt by the patient but can also be demonstrated to his relatives
and his treating Physician.