Tag Archives: RELAX-AHF

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

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’,

NICE update aims to reduce premature deaths after MI The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is updating its guidance to improve the care of people who have survived a myocardial infarction (MI). The draft guideline, published recently for public consultation, contains a number of new recommendations and aims to improve the care received by patients in England and Wales. The draft guideline, originally published in 2007, centres on stemming the progression of vascular disease as well as preventing further MI. It expands on previous recommendations for programmes to help people recover after an MI, including interventions

A new treatment for acute heart failure? The recently published RELAX-AHF (Efficacy and Safety of Relaxin for the Treatment of Acute Heart Failure) study was a prospective, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial carried out in a targeted population of patients with acute HF.1 Relaxin is a physiological hormone that regulates maternal adaptations to pregnancy, increasing cardiac output, renal blood flow, and arterial compliance, alongside decreased peripheral vascular resistance.2,3 Serelaxin is a recombinant human relaxin-2 shown to have beneficial effects on symptoms and outcomes in early studies.4 The primary end points in thi