Search

Background: Reasons for suboptimal prescribing for heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) have been identified, but it is unclear if they remain relevant with recent advances in healthcare delivery and technologies. This study aimed to identify and understand current clinician‐perceived challenges to prescribing guideline‐directed HFrEF medications. Methods: We conducted content analysis methodology, including interviews and member‐checking focus groups with primary care and cardiology clinicians. Interview guides were informed by the Cabana Framework. Results: We conducted interviews with 33 clinicians (13 cardiology specialists, 22 physicians) and member checking with 10 of these. We identified four levels of challenges from the clinician perspective. Clinician level challenges included misconceptions about guideline recommendations, clinician assumptions (e.g., drug cost or affordability), and clinical inertia. Patient–clinician level challenges included misalignment of priorities and insufficient communication. Clinician–clinician level challenges were primarily between generalists and specialists, including lack of role clarity, competing priorities of providing focused versus holistic care, and contrasting confidence regarding safety of newer drugs. Policy and system/organisation level challenges included insufficient access to timely/reliable patient data, and unintended care gaps for medications without financially incentivized metrics. Conclusion: This study presents current challenges faced by cardiology and primary care which can be used to strategically design interventions to improve guideline‐directed care for HFrEF. The findings support the persistence of many challenges and also sheds light on new challenges. New challenges identified include conflicting perspectives between generalists and specialists, hesitancy to prescribe newer medications due to safety concerns, and unintended consequences related to value‐based reimbursement metrics for select medications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Patient-centered care includes matching treatments to patient values and preferences. This assumes clarity and consistency of values and preferences relevant to major medical decisions. We sought to describe stability of patient-reported values regarding aggressiveness of care and preferences for left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) for advanced heart failure. Methods and Results: We conducted a secondary analysis of patients undergoing LVAD evaluation at 6 US centers. Surveys at baseline, 1 month, and 6 months included a single 10-point scale on the value of aggressive care (score 1 = "do everything," 10 = "live with whatever time I have left") and treatment preference (LVAD, unsure, no LVAD). Data were captured for 232 patients, of whom 196 were ultimately deemed medically eligible for LVAD, and 161 were surgically implanted by 1 month. Values at baseline favored aggressive care (mean [SD], 2.49 [2.63]), trending toward less aggressive over time (1 month, 2.63 [2.05]; 6 months, 3.22 [2.70]). Between baseline and 1 month, values scores changed by ≥2 points in 28% (50/176), as did treatment preferences for 18% (29/161) of patients. Values score changes over time were associated with lower illness acceptance, depression, and eventual LVAD ineligibility. Treatment preference change was associated with values score change. Conclusion: Most patients considering LVAD were stable in their values and treatment preferences. This stability, as well as the association between unstable treatment preferences and changes to stated values, highlighted the clinical utility of the values scale of aggressiveness. However, a substantial minority reported significant changes over time that may complicate the process of shared decision making. Improved methods to elicit and clarify values, including support to those with depression and low illness acceptance, is critical for patient-centered care. Highlights: Self-reported values and preferences change significantly over time in about a quarter of patients actively considering left ventricular assist device implantation. Instability in stated values and preferences challenges clinicians who want to maximally match patient preferences to the treatments they receive. For most patients, clinicians can normalize the desire to maximize survival and empathize with the difficulty of making the decision. For others, clinicians may want to help patients explore the benefits and tradeoffs of therapy, including whether values other than the ones being asked about dominate their consideration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Hospice is underutilized. Miscommunication, decisional complexity, and misunderstanding around engaging hospice may contribute. Shared decision making (SDM), aided by patient decision aids (PtDAs), can improve knowledge and decision quality. Currently, there are no freely available hospice-specific PtDA to facilitate conversions between patients and providers about hospice care. Objective: To develop a theory-based and unbiased hospice specific PtDA. Design: Guided by the Ottawa Decision Support Framework and International Patient Decision Aid Standards, we used a theory-driven, eight-step, iterative, user-centered approach with multistakeholder input to develop a hospice-specific PtDA for anyone facing end-of-life decisions. Subjects: Feedback was obtained from a 10-member Patient Advisory Panel composed of lay patient advisors; focus groups of hospice providers, family caregivers, and patients; and the Palliative Care Research Group at University of Colorado Hospital consisting of palliative care physicians, midlevel providers, nurses, social workers, chaplains, and researchers. Results: There are many challenges in developing an unbiased hospice decision aid, including (1) balancing the provision of education (eligibility, payment) with decisional support, (2) clarifying values and incorporating emotion, (3) ideally representing the potential downsides of hospice, and (4) adequately capturing and describing care alternatives to hospice. Within this context, we developed a 12-page article and 17-minute video PtDAs. The PtDA openly acknowledges the emotional complexity of the decision and incorporates values clarification techniques to help decision makers reflect and evaluate their goals and preferences for end-of-life care. Conclusions: Hospice decision making is complex and emotional, demanding high-quality SDM aided by a formal PtDA. This work resulted in a freely available article and video PtDA for patients considering hospice. The effectiveness and implementation of these tools will be studied in future research. Clinical Trials Registration (NCT03794700 & NCT04458090). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a case of Cryptococcus neoformans pericarditis in a cardiac transplant recipient. This article reviews the diagnosis, treatment, and complications of cryptococcosis specifically in transplant patients. While pericarditis is a rare manifestation of Cryptococcus infection, this case highlights that cryptococcosis should be considered in the differential diagnosis for solid organ transplant and immunocompromised patients presenting with pericardial effusions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advances in surgery and pediatric care over the past decades have achieved improved survival for children born with congenital heart disease (CHD) and have produced a large, growing population of patients with adult congenital heart disease (ACHD). Heart failure has emerged as the leading cause of death and a major cause of morbidity among the ACHD population, while as little evidence supports the efficacy of guideline-directed medical therapies in this population. It is increasingly important that clinicians caring for these patients understand how to utilize mechanical circulatory support (MCS) in ACHD. In this review, we summarize the data on transplantation and MCS in the ACHD-heart failure population and provide a framework for how ACHD patients may benefit from advanced heart failure therapies like transplantation and MCS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article describes the evaluation and management of BK polyomavirus (BKV) viremia in a 2001 and 2014 heart transplant recipients, with topics mentioned such as BKV-associated nephropathy, renal failure, and polymerase chain reaction.

Congest Heart Fail. 2011;17:227-234. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Mechanical circulatory support has become an increasingly common method of supporting patients with advanced heart failure. Paramount to the recent progress observed with this therapy has been a greater understanding of patient selection criteria as a primary determinant of early and late patient outcomes. Prior to device implant, patients should undergo a multidisciplinary evaluation of cardiovascular, noncardiovascular, and psychosocial factors that influence postoperative outcomes. The use of multivariable risk scores may also be useful to guide discussions with patients and families regarding the relative risks of different therapeutic alternatives. Despite an evidence base that provides guiding principles in patient selection for mechanically assisted circulation, several aspects of the evaluation require further refinement, including development of tools to objectively assess psychosocial parameters, and definition and validation of measures of right ventricular dysfunction that preclude successful isolated left ventricular support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the role of gp120 protein in inducing the genetic expression of cytokines, chemokines, kinases and transcription factors associated with antigen-specific T cell activation. Absence of cellular proliferation; Use of Western blotting technique; Components of RNA polymerase II complex.

The article offers information on a study conducted to find whether carvedilol may reduce all-cause mortality more than other beta1-selective beta-blockers in patients with systolic heart failure. According to the study, beta-blockers are key factors in the medical management of chronic heart failure and three beta-blockers including carvedilol, metoprolol succinate, and bisoprolol have ability to reduce mortality.

The article offers information on a study conducted to clarify whether any particular blocker is superior in patients with heart failure or whether the benefits of these agents are mainly due to a class effect. According to the study, beta-blockers reduce mortality but do not differ from each other in patients suffering from heart failure.

The article focuses on study conducted to deduce the impact of a 10 year continuous supervised exercise program on patients with chronic heart failure. It reports that the results obtained showed that the effect of training on peak oxygen consumption and quality of life was commendable and patients were more healthy then those who weren't subjected to such training programs. It highlights that reduction in heart mortality rate and hospital readmissions have been tough to prove.

The article presents information on the study related to the randomized clinical trials related to the chronic heart failure. It informs that during the study 123 patients with clinically stable chronic heart failure were studied. It further informs that a large improvement in clinical outcomes was seen during the study.