Evidence-based clinical evaluation of heart failure patients

A medicina baseada em evidência aplicada na avaliação clínica de pacientes com insuficiência cardíaca vem nos trazendo importantes contribuições nos conceitos clássicos de congestão sistêmica. Assim, podemos hoje compreender o desempenho diagnóstico de cada sinal ou sintoma clínico de insuficiência cardíaca e atribuir-lhes o devido valor diagnóstico e/ou prognóstico. Novas variáveis, como a pressão de pulso proporcional, têm demonstrado relevância clínica. Os peptídeos natriuréticos, sendo importantes ferramentas na avaliação do estado volêmico dos pacientes com insuficiência cardíaca, vêm a somar no entendimento clínico e adicionar valor prognóstico. A ecocardiografia, quando utilizada como ferramenta não-invasiva para a avaliação do perfil hemodinâmico, pode contribuir significativamente para o manejo clínico dos pacientes com insuficiência cardíaca. Em conclusão, o devido entendimento contemporâneo sobre o desempenho diagnóstico de aspectos do exame físico, dos peptídeos natriuréticos e da ecocardiografia na avaliação clínica de pacientes com insuficiência cardíaca é fundamental para a estimativa correta de congestão, que, se tratada agressivamente com vistas a reduzir pressões de enchimento ventricular, levará a um melhor resultado terapêutico e maior benefício clínico.The evidence-based medicine applied to the clinical evaluation of heart failure patients has provided us with significant contributions with regard to traditional concepts of systemic congestion. It is now possible to understand the diagnostic performance of each heart failure clinical sign or symptom and give them the appropriate diagnostic/prognostic value. New variables, such as proportional pulse pressure, have demonstrated great clinical relevance. The natriuretic peptides, for being important tools in the assessment of congestive heart failure patients, add to the clinical understanding and prognostic value of such patients. The echocardiography, when used as a noninvasive tool in the evaluation of hemodynamic profile, may significantly contribute to the clinical management of heart failure patients. In conclusion, the proper contemporary understanding of the diagnostic performance of physical examination aspects, natriuretic peptides and echocardiography in the clinical evaluation of heart failure patients is of utmost importance for the correct assessment of congestion. If the congestion is aggressively treated with the aim of reaching low ventricular filling pressures, it may improve therapeutic results and lead to a better clinical outcomes

Iron deficiency in heart failure with reduced ejection fraction : pathophysiology, diagnosis and treatment

A deficiência de ferro (DF) ou ferropenia é uma importante comorbidade na insuficiência cardíaca com fração de ejeção reduzida (ICFER) estável, e muito prevalente tanto nos anêmicos como não anêmicos. A ferropenia na ICFER deve ser pesquisada por meio da coleta de saturação de transferrina e ferritina. Há dois tipos de ferropenia na IC: absoluta, em que as reservas de ferro estão depletadas; e funcional, onde o suprimento de ferro é inadequado apesar das reservas normais. A ferropenia está associada com pior classe funcional e maior risco de morte em pacientes com ICFER, e evidências científicas apontam melhora de sintomas e de qualidade de vida desses pacientes com tratamento com ferro parenteral na forma de carboximaltose férrica. O ferro exerce funções imprescindíveis como o transporte (hemoglobina) e armazenamento (mioglobina) de oxigênio, além de ser fundamental para o funcionamento das mitocôndrias, constituídas de proteínas à base de ferro, e local de geração de energia na cadeia respiratória pelo metabolismo oxidativo. A geração insuficiente e utilização anormal de ferro nas células musculares esquelética e cardíaca contribuem para a fisiopatologia da IC. A presente revisão tem o objetivo de aprofundar o conhecimento a respeito da fisiopatologia da ferropenia na ICFER, abordar as ferramentas disponíveis para o diagnóstico e discutir sobre a evidência científica existente de reposição de ferro.Iron deficiency (ID) is an important comorbidity in heart failure with reduced ejection (HFrEF) and is highly prevalent in both anemic and non-anemic patients. In HFrEF, iron deficiency should be investigated by measurements of transferrin saturation and ferritin. There are two types of ID: absolute deficiency, with depletion of iron stores; and functional ID, where iron supply is not sufficient despite normal stores. ID is associated with worse functional class and higher risk of death in patients with HFrEF, and scientific evidence has indicated improvement of symptoms and quality of life of these patients with treatment with parenteral iron in the form of ferric carboxymaltose. Iron plays vital roles such as oxygen transportation (hemoglobin) and storage (myoblogin), and is crucial for adequate functioning of mitochondria, which are composed of iron-based proteins and the place of energy generation by oxidative metabolism at the electron transport chain. An insufficient generation and abnormal uptake of iron by skeletal and cardiac muscle cells contribute to the pathophysiology of HF. The present review aims to increase the knowledge of the pathophysiology of ID in HFrEF, and to address available tools for its diagnosis and current scientific evidence on iron replacement therapy

Nurses' performance in classifying heart failure patients based on physical exam : comparison with cardiologist's physical exam and levels of N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide

Aim.The purpose of this study is to compare clinical assessment of congestion performed by a nurse to that performed bycardiologist and correlate them with NT-ProBNP levels.Background.The nurses’ role in heart failure has been strongly focused in therapeutic, educational and self-care interventions.The diagnostic performance of nurses in heart failure outpatients is not well explored. N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptideis a cardiac marker that reflects elevated filling pressures.Design.Cross-sectional contemporaneous study.Methods.Heart failure outpatients underwent a systematic clinical assessment of clinical congestion score performed by car-diologist and nurse during the same visit. Assessments were performed independently and N-terminal pro-B-type natriureticpeptide levels obtained. The nurses’ ability to classify patients in hemodynamic profile was compared to the cardiologist’s.Results.Eighty-nine assessments were performed in 63 patients with heart failure. The correlation of clinical congestion scoresobtained by nurse with those obtained by cardiologist wasrs=0Æ86;p<0Æ001. The correlation of clinical congestion scoresfrom nurse and cardiologist with levels of N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide were as follows:rs=0Æ45;p<0Æ0001 andrs=0Æ51, respectively,p<0Æ0001. Patients with clinical congestion score‡3 had levels of NT-ProBNP significantly higher thanthose with clinical congestion score<3, in the assessment performed by the cardiologist (1866 SD 1151 vs. 757 SD 988 pg/ml;p<0Æ0001) and by the nurse (1720 SD 1228 vs. 821 SD 914 pg/ml;p<0Æ0001). The nurse and cardiologist had similarcapacity in classifying patients in congested quadrants (p=0Æ027) or in dry quadrants (p=0Æ03), according to the levels ofN-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide. Area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve of the nurse and cardiologist todetect congestion was, respectively, 0Æ77 and 0Æ72. Conclusions.Our data suggests that nurses trained in heart failure may have a similar performance to that of the cardiologistfor the clinical detection of congestion and assessment of the hemodynamic profile in patients with chronic heart failure