Improving the continuity of care following discharge of patients hospitalized with heart failure: is the discharge summary adequate?

OBJECTIVE: To determine the adequacy of the discharge summary in reporting important investigative results and future management plans in patients hospitalized and discharged with a diagnosis of heart failure. DESIGN: During a six-month period, all patient charts were identified and reviewed in which heart failure had been the most responsible discharge diagnosis. Trained, independent chart reviewers recorded predefined key aspects of the typed and handwritten discharge summaries including measurement of left ventricular function, utilization of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEI), management of risk factors, and instructions for follow-up treatment and appointments. SETTING: Single centre, tertiary care teaching hospital. MAIN RESULTS: One hundred and one patient charts meeting review criteria were identified. Eighty-two contained a typed (dictated) discharge summary and 82 contained a copy of a one-page preformatted but handwritten summary given to the patient at discharge with instructions to give to their primary care physician. Forty-one per cent of typed discharge summaries did not record any known evaluation of left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF). Of patients with LVEF < or =40%, 34% were not prescribed an ACEI at time of discharge. Of these patients, a contraindication was documented in 26% but there was no documentation of a contraindication or reason in 24%. In patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy as the principal attributed cause of heart failure, 80% of discharge summaries had no specific instructions addressing modifiable risk factors. Follow-up instructions for family physician visits were not mentioned in 56% of typed discharge summaries. CONCLUSIONS: Substantial inadequacies exist in communicating to the community physician, at the time of discharge from an acute care teaching hospital, valuable patient management information of patients with heart failure. This may have implications for continuity of care and subsequent clinical outcomes.     

A heart failure specialist’s perspective on cardiac surgery for heart failure

Aside from cardiac transplantation, ventricular assist devices, and the total artificial heart, cardiac surgery now also plays a major role in the overall management of the heart failure patient. For patients with heart failure, cardiac surgery has steadily moved from being a predominant rescue procedure (eg, aneursymectomy, rupture repair, transplantation) to surgical interventions that can prevent or delay the progression of cardiac dysfunction and failure; these operations now include coronary artery bypass surgery, ventricular restoration, and valvular repair/replacement. This article discusses the role and impact of these specific surgical interventions in the setting of ventricular dysfunction and heart failure.     

Difficult cases in heart failure: amiodarone lung injury: another heart failure mimic?

Careful thought must be given to the development of bystander pathology that could mimic worsening of heart failure. Recent trials with patients receiving amiodarone record a low rate of amiodarone pulmonary toxicity of 1.6%. Bronchoalveolar lavage in amiodarone toxicity demonstrates an absolute and relative lymphocytic alveolitis, suggesting hypersensitivity, but this finding is neither sensitive nor specific. Recently, KL-6, a mucin-like high molecular weight glycoprotein secreted by proliferating type II alveolar pneumocytes, has been identified as a potential marker of interstitial pneumonitis. A high index of suspicion combined with rapid exclusion of common confounding mimics can help in establishing the diagnosis of amiodarone lung toxicity.     

The treatment of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (“diastolic heart failure”)

Unlike heart failure with a low ejection fraction, there is no evidence-based treatment for heart failure with preserved ejection fraction which improves clinical outcomes. Indeed, the only evidence for any treatment effect comes from small studies with verapamil where this drug increased exercise capacity and reduced a heart failure score. Large trials are presently underway which are examining the effect of treatment with an ACE inhibitor, ARB and aldosterone antagonist in patients with heart failure and preserved ejection fraction.     

Diastolic and systolic heart failure: Different stages or distinct phenotypes of the heart failure syndrome?

It remains uncertain if diastolic heart failure (DHF) is a distinct HF phenotype or a precursor stage of systolic HF (SHF). The unimodal distribution of left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) in HF, depressed LV long-axis shortening in DHF, and progression to eccentric LV remodeling in hypertension favor DHF and SHF as successive stages. These arguments are countered by the bimodal distribution of LVEF after correction for gender, by the preserved LV twist in DHF and by the low incidence of eccentric LV remodeling in hypertension. Clinical features, LV anatomy and histology, cardiomyocyte stiffness, myocardial effects of diabetes, and the response to HF therapy support DHF and SHF as distinct phenotypes. Comparison of the myocardial signal transduction cascades that drive LV remodeling in DHF and SHF may solve the controversy. This review analyzes arguments supporting DHF and SHF as successive stages or distinct phenotypes of the HF syndrome.