Editor’s note: This article on new treatment options for heart failure also applies to HCPs caring for patients living with diabetes. Our sister site, CardioCareLive.com, hosted this online CME session.
In the United States there are about 5.7 million people diagnosed with heart failure (HF), most of them female. With 870,000 new HF patients diagnosed annually, the 2012 health care expenditure was $30.7 billion according to Clyde W. Yancy, MD during his CardioCareLive CME session.
Clyde W. Yancy, MD, Chief of Cardiology at Northwestern University and Associate Medical Director at Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute in Chicago, IL explains current treatment modalities for patients with heart failure, then introduces some new interventions. He specifically looks at novel interventions for patients with heart failure, both HFpEF and HFrEF.
Dr. Yancy explains the two classification systems for HF; the ACC/AHA States (which are linear), and the NYHA Functional Classification (on which patients can move back and forth along the scale based on symptoms and disease progression). Once a patient has been diagnosed, Dr. Yancy identifies two steps toward treatment: 1) Identify lifestyle changes to help slow the process, and 2) determine what is the right characterization of the patient along these classification systems.
The presentation contains a detailed description of the Stages, Phenotypes, and Treatments for HF, including pharmacologic treatment for Stage C HFrEF. Dr. Yancy asks the utopian question, “what would happen if we could do the right thing for the right patient at the right time in every circumstance?” He then introduces a chart that demonstrates the magnitude of benefits demonstrated in RCTs.
Treatments for Heart Failure
One of the novel interventions is a fairly new medication called Ivabradine. It was approved by the FDA late in 2015 for stable HF patients with a resting heart rate of at least 70 bpm, and who are also taking the highest tolerable does of a beta blocker. One advantage of Ivabradine over other medications is there is only one result; it reduces a persistently elevated heart rate. Dr. Yancy cautions viewers that Ivabradine is “not a way to prevent death, but a way to reduce the hospitalization experience.”
To view the full presentation as part of the complimentary CME offerings by CardioCareLive, please visit “Clinical Spotlight on Novel Interventions for Patients with Heart Failure.”
Below is an excerpt from Dr. Yancy’s Session on novel treatments for heart failure:
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