A “pioneering” new way of treating heart failure has cut deaths by nearly two-thirds, bringing hope to those affected by the potentially deadly condition.
The approach, which involves giving patients a stronger dose of drugs early on rather than gradually, was shown to reduce deaths by 62% in a global trial.
St George’s Hospital in London was the first in England to trial it. As well as cutting death rates, the hospital said that it would reduce pressure on the country’s National Health Service, by reducing readmittance rates.
“Heart failure kills as many people as cancer, yet cancer treatments such as chemotherapy start faster,” said Matthew Sunter, lead heart failure nurse at St George’s. “Now, armed with our new knowledge, we’re able to replicate this with heart failure patients, starting them on higher doses of medicines and increasing them much more quickly.
“I’ve been in this role 10 years, and when I started, I never imagined we could treat patients in this manner. We’ve come a really long way.”
In a separate development, a study found that patients who received a combination of statins and the cholesterol-lowering drug ezetimibe immediately after a heart attack had a lower risk of having another than those who didn’t.
Image: CDC
