Tag Archives: COMET

Bridging the gap: from trials to inner cities Within the field of heart failure, there is a breadth of prognostic therapies derived from large, randomised controlled trials. Professor Iain Squire (Glenfield Hospital, Leicester) described how new treatments require approval in the European Union before they can be implemented into clinical practice within the member states. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) ensures the best use of scientific resources across Europe. While certain classes of technologies must undergo licencing via a centralised procedure, most therapies will be eligible for licensing by one member state on behalf of other na

Counting the cost of acute heart failure In the first keynote lecture, Professor John McMurray (BHF Cardiovascular Research Centre, Glasgow) began by addressing the definition of acute heart failure (HF). He felt the term ‘acute’ was unhelpful, as it can be applied to a broad spectrum of clinical presentation, from the rapid onset of acute pulmonary oedema, to the subacute deterioration in chronic HF symptoms (predominantly peripheral oedema) that culminates in hospitalisation. Accordingly, the new 2013 American College of Cardiology Foundation (ACCF)/American Heart Association (AHA) HF guidelines refer to ‘the hospitalised patient’,