Tag Archives: IRONMAN

New generation diabetes drugs – a cardiorenal done deal? The meeting was opened by Professor William Herrington (Honorary Consultant Nephrologist, Oxford Kidney Unit) who discussed the impact of the new generation diabetes drugs on kidney outcomes.1 A meta-analysis of over 90,000 patients showed that sodium glucose co-transporter-2 (SGLT2) inhibitors slowed chronic kidney disease (CKD) progression by 37%, and decreased the risk of acute kidney injury, cardiovascular (CV) death or heart failure hospitalisation by 23%, regardless, the presence of diabetes or type of SGLT2 inhibitor used. Implementing these drugs is simple and can be done by

Preparing for the next 25 years Opening the meeting, BSH Chair Professor Roy Gardner (University of Glasgow) spoke about the BSH‘s aim to reduce HF mortality by 25% in 25 years, which would need the bringing together of all stakeholders to improve: Prevention strategies Identifying those at risk Early accurate diagnosis Appropriate treatment In his speech, he encouraged us to be more ambitious for further progress, to raise awareness of HF, and to educate more widely to achieve further progress and benefit more patients. 25 Fellows for 25 years Table 1. The new British Society for Heart Failure Fellows John Baxter, Sunderland Lynd

Landmark trials in heart failure – 30 years from CONSENSUS With 2017 marking the 30th year since the publication of CONSENSUS,1 which first reported a reduction in mortality with enalapril versus placebo in patients with advanced heart failure (HF), the BCS held a dedicated session to review the seminal clinical trials and advances in chronic heart failure management in this period. Dr Rosita Zakeri (Royal Brompton Hospital, London) reviewed this session for us and spoke to the BJC afterwards. Rosita Zakeri The era of vasodilator therapy for heart failure began in the 1990s. Professor Karl Swedberg (University of Gothenberg, Sweden) began

Targeting uric acid Dr Richard Crawley (Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust) The conference’s keynote lecture, delivered by Professor Austin Stack (University Hospital, Limerick, Ireland), homed in on the idea that serum uric acid directly contributes to increased cardiovascular disease. This was shown in his team’s work published in 2013,1 which used retrospective data to identify a direct correlation between raised serum uric acid concentrations and increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease. This, therefore, begs two questions: Firstly, does uric acid directly cause vascular endothelial damage, contributing to acute renal dysfunct

Acute heart failure The first of the clinical heart failure sessions, delivered by Professor Theresa McDonagh (King’s College Hospital, London), considered the definition of acute heart failure (AHF) and how this has been simplified over recent years from a minefield of overlapping statements set out in 2008. Acute hypertensive heart failure, acutely decompensated chronic heart failure, acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and heart failure, right heart failure – amongst other terminology – have now been categorised into: ‘puffers’ – pulmonary oedema, fluid distribution error and ‘bloaters’ – peripheral oedema with genuine fluid