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HF and Transplantation to focus on day-to-day care of patients, progess in field
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The past decade has seen tremendous progress in our understanding of the pathophysiology, epidemiology, demographics and treatments of heart failure.
We have moved into an arena where prevention of the development of circulatory insufficiency and ventricular dysfunction has assumed primacy. Once thought contraindicated, ACE inhibitors, angiotensin receptor blockers, aldosterone antagonists, and, particularly, beta blockers, have assumed primacy in treating the HF syndrome.
Disappointments have abounded, however. They have ranged from lackluster performance of vasodilators to a suggestion of harm with inotropic agents. New and even more radical tactics such as immune modulation and use of lipid-lowering drugs (statins in particular) have produced conflicting and controversial results. Outcomes after cardiac transplantation have dramatically improved and particularly exciting has been the progress made in mechanical circulatory support devices.
This section of Cardiology Today will cover the important field of HF and cardiac transplantation, giving readers up-to-date coverage of the major developments impacting day-to-day care of patients with the HF syndrome. These are indeed exciting times for cardiology in general, but more specifically, for those focusing on HF and ventricular dysfunction. We must not forget that over 1 million hospitalizations annually for decompensated congestive HF occur with a prevalence of the disease being estimated at least 5 million individuals in the United States. Obviously, this is an extraordinarily important arena and it will be expertly covered.
James B. Young, MD, is Chairman and Professor, George & Linda Kaufman Chair, Division of Medicine of the Lerner College of Medicine at The Cleveland Clinic. He is editor of Cardiology Today’s HF and Transplantation section.