Avoiding the development of heart failure after infarction with drugs – healing practice

Drug treatment of heart failure after a heart attack

A Heart attack often draw a heart failure (called heart failure in medical jargon) Researchers are now reporting promising study results that represent a promising first approach to preventing the development of heart failure after a heart attack in the future medicated long term too avoid.

The treatment of acute myocardial infarction has improved considerably in recent years. However, the increased risk of developing heart failure after a heart attack remains. In the review “European journal of the heartResearch results have just been published which show how the pumping capacity of the heart can be maintained as much as possible after a heart attack, which has a significant advantage both for the quality of life and for the risk of complications for patients. patients.

Life-threatening event

As in a stream Message from the Medical University of Graz, symptoms such as intense and persistent pain below the sternum, tightness and pressure in the chest, a pale complexion, cold sweats on the forehead and shortness of breath are particularly indicative of an acute heart attack.

This represents a life-threatening event due to the death of heart muscle cells. quick action in order to restore blood flow to the heart vessels as quickly as possible through medical interventions such as cardiac catheters and, if necessary, stent implantation.

Even though a heart attack is now easily treatable, there is still an increased risk of developing heart failure in the months and years following the event, since the heart is dead heart tissue is irretrievably lost, preventing the heart from fully recovering.

Drug originally developed to lower blood sugar

Here put the endocrinologist Harald Souri and the cardiologist Dirk Von Lewinski from the Medical University of Graz.

In a study involving eleven Austrian study centres, the two scientists investigated how a lowering blood sugar developed drug could help maintain the heart’s pumping ability after a heart attack.

To this end, 476 patients who suffered a heart attack within 72 hours of the event with the drug empagliflozin or placebo for 26 weeks.

“Under treatment with empagliflozin, we were able to improvement heart failure biomarker – NT-proBNP – as well as an increase in the pumping capacity of the heart”explains Dirk von Lewinski, Clinical Department of Cardiology at Med Uni Graz and Head of Cardiological Intensive Care Unit at University Hospital Graz.

Further research is needed

The two experts see the results of the research as a promising first approach to pharmacotherapy prevent the development of heart failure after a long-term heart attack.

“Further large-scale studies are needed to search results to confirm”says Harald Sourij, Clinical Department of Endocrinology and Diabetology and Head of the Trial Unit for Interdisciplinary Metabolic Medicine at Med Uni Graz, who coordinated this study.

The research results that have just been published are already arousing great international interest. As a result, further testing of blood samples from study participants should be performed to determine if biomarkers are available that can predict the response to treatment, but also the risk of deterioration of heart pumping function. (ad)