Research another goal of Cedars CHF center
April 1, 1999 2 minutes read
Research another goal of Cedars CHF center
The staff of the new heart failure clinic at Cedars-Sinai medical center hopes the facility will be a source of information to professional caregivers as well as to patients and their families, says Ellen Daroszewski, RN, PhD, ACNP.
"Our primary responsibility is to take care of these people, but we also want to contribute to the knowledge," says Daroszewski, nurse practitioner at the facility.
The site will have several different databases to track the developments of treating these patients. Daroszewski says she hopes to learn the behind-the-scenes pictures of CHF treatment such as if one ethnic group seems to do better than another. The data also will allow staff to chart specifics like VO2 Max from an exercise stress test vs. survival.
"We’re learning more and more," says Americo Simonini, MD, CHF clinic cardiologist for Cedars. The site will also be studying these aspects of heart failure:
Left-ventricular assist devices, or LVADs.By 2001, Cedars expects to be the site to test an implanted artificial heart.
Medications.— intravenous medications that fight inflammation;
— endothelium antagonists;
— tumor necrosis factor;
— new pharmaceutical trials. Basic science.
Understanding the biochemistry of the failing heart and agents that can be used to block hormonal responses.
Formal CHF centers also are good places to test new uses on older medications. Simonini notes Hepretone (spironolacrone), which inhibits aldosterone: For years doctors used it to treat liver patients whose cirrhosis caused them to have a severely bloated abdomen from fluid retention. The RALES II study found it could reduce CHF mortality by 30%.
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