A novel hormone deficiency may exist in humans, Vanderbilt investigators have discovered. In an analysis of two decades worth of electronic health records, the researchers found that some patients have unexpectedly low levels of natriuretic peptide hormone in clinical situations that should cause high levels of the hormone.

A national study led by researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center has found that many patients who arrive at the emergency department (ED) with acute heart failure can be safely discharged with self-care guidance and frequent phone appointments, avoiding the need for hospitalization.

Vanderbilt Heart and Vascular Institute (VHVI) has implanted its first V-Wave, an interatrial shunt device, as a part of a multi-center clinical trial.

In 2018, Ronnie Kreis began to develop severe heart failure. After being hospitalized multiple times that year near his home in Oliver Springs in East Tennessee, he was told that nothing else could be done.

Patients in North America wait a median of three hours to receive intravenous therapy for acute heart failure, while no other region in the world waited for more than 1.2 hours, according to a global study whose lead author and co-primary investigator is Sean Collins, MD, MSc, professor of Emergency Medicine.

The protein MMP7 is elevated in blood from patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy who have cardiac dysfunction, suggesting that it may be a biomarker for heart disease severity.

Vanderbilt scientists have discovered that a certain enzyme plays a crucial role in preventing obesity-related cardiac dysfunction.