How are you going to manage this patients cardiac
failure?
In 5 steps,
1) Firstly,
I will exclude reversible causes/ precipitants
Thyroid
dysfunction
Arrthymias
Medications
e.g. compliance issues, new meds
Infarction
Anaemia
Infection
2) Then I will treat the underlying disease
Haemochromatosis
Ischaemia
Beri-Beri
(nutrition)
Hypertension
Valvular
Disease
Alcohol
3) Treat the failure
Non-Pharmacologically
Low
salt diet (less than 200mg day)
Fluid
restriction (1.5 L/day in mild/moderate)
Exercise
Social
Support/ Education
Exclude
OSA
Pharmacologically
Diurectics
Ace-Inh/
AII blockers
B-Blockers
Spironolactone
+/-
Digoxin
With a
device
Cardiac
Resynchronization Therapy (drug-refractory class III/IV with LVEF 35% or less,
LVEDD >60mm and left-sided conduction delay > 150 msec) – MUSTIC trial
(impact on mortality remains unknown though)
4) Prevent Deterioration
Minimise
risk factors
5) Consider Transplant/ other surgical options
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