A new Yale study shows that some patients being treated for severe heart failure with a battery-operated pump saw significant improvement after additionally using neurohormonal blockade (NHB) drug therapy.
A new Yale study shows that some patients being treated for severe heart failure with a battery-operated pump saw significant improvement after additionally using neurohormonal blockade (NHB) drug therapy.
NHB therapy, which includes three broad categories of drugs, including ACE inhibitors, has long been the standard therapy for treating heart failure. Until now, however, NHB therapy’s effectiveness had not been extensively studied for heart failure patients using left ventricular assist devices (LVADs). The devices, which are surgically implanted, have become increasingly popular in recent years because there are few therapeutic options for end-stage patients other than heart transplants.
A new study published Nov. 18 in the journal JAMA Cardiology shows a clear association between the use of NHB therapy and increased survival and quality of life for patients with LVADs.
Patients who were taking any combination of the three major heart failure therapies that comprise NHB had a 56% survival rate, compared to 43.9% for patients who were not taking the medications, the researchers said.
Read more at: Yale University
A left ventricular assist heart pump, the kind often used by patients with end-stage heart failure (Photo credit: Dan Renzetti)
