Heart Failure

Heart failure:  An update on current care

CHAC, the Clinical and Health Affairs Commission of the AAPA November 09, 2011

Three goals of HF management are to delay onset of end-stage disease, avoid acute decompensated heart failure, and reduce the incidence of sudden cardiac death.

What's new in atrial fibrillation: Is dronedarone more effective than amiodarone?

Reamer L. Bushardt, PharmD, PA-C, Kelly W. Jones, PharmD, BCPS February 17, 2011

The authors compare the risks and benefits of two drugs used to treat patients with atrial fibrillation.

A female patient with shortness of breath at rest and fluid retention

Cynthia Cawley, PA-C, MPM, Srinivas Murali, MD January 28, 2011

A patient with a history significant for pulmonary arterial hypertension presents with shortness of breath and jugular venous distention.

Previously healthy man is afflicted with dyspnea, weight gain, and orthopea

Matthew J. Graziano, MPAS December 28, 2010

A man who had frequent contact with animals reported the recent development of respiratory symptoms and signs of heart failure.

Can folic acid lower heart attack risk?

Nicole L. Hatcher, DHSc, MPAS, PA-C November 03, 2010

This information can help PAs explain the importance of folic acid in the diet and the merits of reports that folic acid supplements can prevent a heart attack.

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy: The race to find a fatal condition in athletes

Charles S. Lemasters II, PA-C; John M. Grosel, MD June 02, 2010

Conflicting opinions and concerns about costs inhibit the routine use of 12-lead ECG in preparticipation screenings for young athletes.

What is an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator?

Mary L. Hewett, PA-C, MS May 17, 2010

Your patients with arrhythmias will want to know all there is to know about these lifesaving devices.

Episodes of severe dyspnea

Tyson Parker, MPAS, PA-C July 17, 2009

A 73-year-old nonsmoker complains of fatigue and dyspnea so severe that he has to rest when walking from his car to his house and sit up on the edge of the bed to breathe.

Can cellular cardiomyoplasty cure heart failure?

Melinda Jean Johnson, MCMS, PA-C; Doreen C. Parkhurst, PA, MD, FACEP May 01, 2007

Heart failure (HF) affects approximately 5 million people in the United States, with 550,000 new cases diagnosed each year. From 30% to 40% of patients with HF are hospitalized every year, and it is the leading cause of hospitalization in adults older than 65 years.

Race-based therapeutics: A discussion surrounding heart failure trials

Natalie Schmitz, MMSc, PA-C February 01, 2007

Why do some illnesses affect patients of certain races differently? Why is it that some patients respond to medications in different ways than do their counterparts of a different race? Is race-based therapy the solution? Here are some answers.

ACC/AHA 2005 guideline update: Chronic heart failure in the adult

Lyle W. Larson, PhD, PA-C; Deborah A. Gerbert, PA-C; Lawrence M. Herman, MPA, PA-C; Marie-Michèle Léger, MPH, PA-C; Robert McNellis, MPH, PA-C; Daniel L. O'Donoghue, PhD, PA-C; et al. April 01, 2006

The guideline reviewed here is a 2005 update to the 2001 guidelines for the evaluation and management of heart failure (HF). In the 2001 document, the ACC/AHA introduced four stages (A, B, C, and D) in the development of HF.

Understanding diastolic dysfunction

Vishali Chand, PA-C March 01, 2006

The primary therapeutic goal in treating diastolic heart failure is to restore physiologic balance using symptom-mediated therapy. Pharmaceutical therapy used for systolic dysfunction may actually be harmful.