heart failure patients

MUNICH (MedPage Today) -- The finding that heart rate, specifically a heart rate more than 70 beats per minute, increased the risk of cardiac events in heart failure patients was the top take-home message for the Dutch cardiologist who chaired the European Society of Cardiology program committee.

(Northwestern Memorial Hospital) Chest pain and shortness of breath are common symptoms that send tens of thousands of heart failure (HF) patients into US hospitals each month.

Cardiologists at the Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute of Northwestern Memorial Hospital may be able to curb such visits for some of their HF patients as they recently became Chicago's first researchers using a new wireless pressure sensor technology that allows them to track the pulmonary artery pressure of the subjects while these subjects remain at home.

(Ohio State University Medical Center) Data from 260 hospitals across the United States has led to the creation of a new method for physicians to more accurately determine the severity of heart failure in patients upon hospital admission, with a goal of reducing in-hospital mortality and more quickly identifying triage methods and treatment decisions.

The model is discussed in the July 29 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. The lead author is Dr.

William Abraham, director of cardiovascular medicine at Ohio State University Medical Center.

(Emory University) New imaging software that will allow physicians to more accurately diagnose and treat heart failure patients has been licensed by Emory University to Syntermed, an Atlanta-based nuclear medicine imaging and informatics software company.

The software uses multiharmonic phase analysis, a technology developed by Emory medical scientists Ernest Garcia, PhD, and Jing Chen, PhD.

Many people with heart failure may be a bit overly optimistic when it comes to estimating how long they have left to live, a study shows.

(New York- Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center) Heart failure patients at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center were among the first to be implanted with the HeartMate II LVAS -- a miniature mechanical pump that helps weak hearts pump blood -- that has now received approval by the FDA as of April 21 for broad use as bridge to transplantation.

As part of clinical trials leading to approval, 22 patients received the new device at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia -- more than any other hospital in the New York area.

(Wiley-Blackwell) Despite the general success of left ventricular assist devices used in critically ill heart failure patients, implantation of these devices often leads to increased bleeding and a need for high-volume blood transfusions during and immediately after surgery.

CHICAGO -- Heart failure patients may not have as strong an immune response to flu vaccine as healthy patients, researchers found.

DURHAM, N.C. -- Heart failure patients who undergo major noncardiac surgery are at greater risk of operative mortality and hospital readmission than are patients with coronary artery disease, investigators here have concluded.