Tag Archives: British Society of Heart Failure

The campaign wants healthcare professionals to help increase public awareness of the most common heart failure symptoms – failure to breathe, fatigue, fluid build up – so medical advice is sought early to improve outcomes from the disease. A recent NICE Impact report1 showed 80% of heart failure is diagnosed in hospital but 40% of people had symptoms that should have triggered an earlier assessment in primary care. This suggests that many people who are living with undiagnosed heart failure are only seeking medical help as an emergency admission into hospital. Materials to educate the public about self-recognition of symptoms and

30 years of heart failure Professor Theresa McDonagh (King’s College Hospital, London) opened this session with a ‘tour de force’ exposition on the development of clinical biomarkers in heart failure from bench to bedside, focussing specifically on the natriuretic peptide family. This remarkable story began with the discovery of atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) in 1981, which was determined to be natriuretic after observation of its diuretic effect following experimental injection into rodents. Brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) was subsequently discovered in porcine cerebrum and thereafter found to predominantly derive from myocardium in

The right ventricle ‘A walk around the heart’ was the title of the recent British Society of Heart Failure (BSH) day for training and revalidation. After passing through the left atrium and ventricle on our walk, we stopped at the right ventricle (RV). Our tour guide at this juncture was Professor Andrew Clark (Chair of Academic Cardiology, Hull York Medical School, and BSH President). The causes of RV dysfunction were outlined initially. These can broadly be divided into left heart disease (ischaemia, cardiomyopathy, valve disease), RV failure (as for left heart), pulmonary hypertension (pulmonary artery hypertension [PAH], thromboemboli

Mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists Professor Faiez Zannad (Université de Lorraine, Nancy, France), the first of two guest lecturers, who has been an investigator in three major randomised controlled trials (RCT) of mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists (MRA) in heart failure,1-3 opened the first session. There was a particular focus on the recent EMPHASIS-HF trial,3 which recruited heart failure (HF) patients with left ventricular systolic dysfunction (ejection fraction [EF] ≤30%, or EF 30-35% with QRS duration >130 ms) and mild symptoms (New York Heart Association [NYHA] class II). Eplerenone treatment resulted in a 37% relative

Neurohormonal blockade A cardiac resynchronisation therapy pacemaker (CRT-P), provides cardiac resynchronisation therapy and diagnostics to assist in patient management The meeting set off to a stimulating start with Professor Theresa McDonagh (Kings College Hospital, Chair of the British Society of Heart Failure) reviewing primarily the growing evidence for aldosterone antagonists in the management of systolic heart failure (HF). Large clinical trials have established the role of aldosterone antagonists, such as spironolactone, in severe systolic HF (Randomised Aldactone Evaluation Study – RALES) and eplerenone in acute myocardial infarcti