heart failure Archive

Sean Collins, MD, MSci, Deonni Stolldorf, PhD, RN, and colleagues are helping other health systems implement a self-care intervention for acute heart failure patients.
April 15, 2021

Self-care program for acute heart failure patients studied as standard practice

Up to 25% of patients with acute heart failure (AHF) face mortality or hospital readmission within one month after being treated in the emergency department (ED).

By Kristin Smart
March 11, 2021

Electronic health record study discovers novel hormone deficiency

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.

By Leigh MacMillan
December 17, 2020

Heart failure study seeks to reduce hospitalizations

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.

By Bill Snyder
September 17, 2020

New device may aid advanced heart failure patients

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.

By Matt Batcheldor
Heart patient Ronnie Kreis is monitored by VHVI doctors while he’s at his home in East Tennessee.
July 30, 2020

Device allows VHVI doctors to monitor heart patients remotely

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.

By Matt Batcheldor
January 16, 2020

Global effort tracks causes, treatment of acute heart failure

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.

By Matt Batcheldor
March 28, 2019

Cardiac dysfunction in DMD

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.
By Leigh MacMillan
June 7, 2018

Enzyme protects against obesity-related heart disease

Vanderbilt scientists have discovered that a certain enzyme plays a crucial role in preventing obesity-related cardiac dysfunction.
By Sanjay Mishra
January 9, 2018

Heart failure risk predicted by communities, not wealth

When buying and selling real estate, how often have you heard the realtor’s mantra — location, location, location? This is also the central theme of a recently released journal report on factors that can predict heart failure risk.
By Jessica Pasley
April 27, 2017

HIV-infected people have higher risk of heart failure

The first large study to report that HIV-infected people have a significantly higher risk of heart failure in the antiretroviral therapy era has been published in JAMA Cardiology.
By Jessica Pasley
January 5, 2017

Heart failure “dashboard”

A new computer algorithm developed at Vanderbilt could save billions of dollars in health care costs by identifying patients at risk for readmission after being hospitalized for heart failure.
By Sanjay Mishra
June 3, 2016

Pregnancy-related heart disorder clues

Vanderbilt researchers have identified biomarkers that could be useful for evaluating and treating pregnancy-related heart failure.
By Yan Su
April 14, 2016

Heart Institute celebrates LVAD program milestone

On April 7, a 48-year-old man from Bethpage, Tennessee, became the 300th person to receive a left ventricular assist device (LVAD) at Vanderbilt Heart and Vascular Institute (VHVI).
By Kathy Whitney