In the last year we have seen the publication of multiple guidance documents on the management of heart failure, each setting new standards for the management of HFpEF, including two national guidelines and a consensus statement on the phenotyping of HFpEF. Why do we need so many guidance documents? What was the rationale behind their development? And how concordant are they? In the final episode of Heart Failure in Focus for 2023, Dr Muthiah Vaduganathan is joined by Prof Giuseppe Rosano (St George’s Hospital London, UK), who played a central part in the development of the 2023 European heart ..read more

In this month's episode, our host Dr Muthiah Vaduganathan speaks with Prof Xavier Cos, a general practitioner and Innovation Officer at Institut Català de la Salut, Barcelona, ES, and Chairman of Primary Care Diabetes Europe, to discuss the current and future role of primary care in heart failure (HF). During the first part of this episode we hear how primary care is ideally positioned to provide early screening and detection of HF – even if practitioners do not consider themselves HF specialists – and how this is key to alleviating the current levels of clinical inertia. The broader role of p ..read more

In this month's episode, our host Dr Muthiah Vaduganathan speaks with Dr Kieran McCafferty, Consultant Nephrologist at Barts NHS Health Trust London, and Senior Clinical Lecturer at Queen Mary University of London, about the growing need for effective management strategies in cardiorenal disease. After touching on the current epidemiology of co-existing CKD and heart failure (HF), Kieran gives a first-hand assessment on the unique challenges of diagnosing HF in CKD. We discuss the evolution of drug treatment in CKD and how cardiorenal patients are now benefitting from the same classes of agent ..read more

This month we are joined by Dr Mikhail Kosiborod, clinical trialist, Professor of Medicine at St Luke’s Heart Institute and leading expert on Quality of Life (QoL) instruments world-wide. Dr Kosiborod discusses functional and QoL outcomes of foundational therapies in Heart Failure (HF) and the clinical application of this data. Additionally, we learn how scoring systems like the Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire (KCCQ) can be used to establish clinically meaningful change in functional status. Finally, we consider how regulators future guideline development might start to look beyond th ..read more

Multiple clinical trials evidence the long-term benefits of guideline-directed medical therapy in heart failure (HF), and international guidelines make clear recommendations for its rapid initiation. But this hasn’t translated into optimal treatment for most patients in the real-world. So, what steps can we take to reverse this trend? In this month’s episode, we speak with Dr Tariq Ahmad MD, Chief of Heart Failure at Yale University, and author of several recent behavioural and implementation studies in HF, including REVeAL-HF and PROMPT-HF. In this conversation, we get to grips with the reali ..read more

Heart failure is a complex disease and whilst clinical practice guidelines posit the “four pillars” as the cornerstone of effective medical management, the very nature of heart failure means that most patients have multiple comorbidities that also need to be addressed. This month, we welcome Biykem Bozkurt – the Mary and Gordon Cain Chair and Professor of medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, Texas – a true pioneer in translational research and a lead contributor to clinical practice guidelines, including the 2022 AHA/ACC/HFSA guidelines. There is perhaps no better guest to ask some of the m ..read more

Multiple clinical trials evidence the long-term benefits of guideline-directed medical therapy in heart failure (HF), and international guidelines make clear recommendations for its rapid initiation. But this hasn’t translated into optimal treatment for most patients in the real-world. So, what steps can we take to reverse this trend? In this month’s episode, we speak with Dr Tariq Ahmad MD, Chief of Heart Failure at Yale University, and author of several recent behavioural and implementation studies in HF, including REVeAL-HF and PROMPT-HF. In this conversation, we get to grips with the reali ..read more

Join us for our second podcast in the series where our host Dr Muthiah Vaduganathan continues the theme of SGLT-2 inhibitors in heart failure. This month’s guest is Prof Carolyn Lam who, together with Muthu will be answering your questions about SGLT-2 inhibitors and the practical management of heart failure patients. All of the questions answered in this podcast have been submitted by real practitioners who manage heart failure on a daily basis, so there’s every chance that if you’ve had a burning question on this topic, Muthu and Carolyn will be answering it. These wide ranging questions cov ..read more

Presenting our new podcast series Heart Failure in Focus, hosted by Muthiah Vaduganathan ..read more

Until recently, guideline directed medical therapy for HFpEF and HFmrEF was aimed at symptom control with mostly diuretic-based treatments. The publication of EMPEROR-PRESERVED in 2021 prompted changes in the AHA/ACC/HFSA guidelines, assigning a 2a recommendation across the SGLT-2 inhibitor class for use in this patient population. Since then, the heart failure community has been waiting in anticipation for the results of DELIVER – the largest SGLT-2 inhibitor trial in this population to date and viewed by many, as an important validation of this class of medication in HFpEF/HFmrEF. In this fi ..read more