title: Sudden death and staged therapy for hemodynamic stabilization in patients enrolled in a heart transplantation program.
abstract: To investigate the impact of staged therapy for advanced heart failure on therapeutic endpoints, 236 consecutive patients (coronary artery disease/dilated cardiomyopathy in 61/175 patients, left ventricular ejection fraction 14% +/- 5%, New York Heart Association Class II/III/IV in 102/79/55 patients, respectively) with advanced heart failure were prospectively followed. One hundred thirty-seven patients enrolled from January 1989 to December 1991 were treated conventionally with digoxin, furosemide, and low dose angiotension converting enzyme (ACE) inhibition. Patients refractory to this therapy underwent urgent heart transplantation. Ninety-nine patients enrolled from January 1992 to August 1993 underwent staged therapy: stage 1: maximal tolerated ACE inhibition; stage 2: therapy with PGE1 for pre- and afterload reduction to achieve hemodynamic stabilization; or stage 3: refractory patients bridged to heart transplantation with continuous outpatient dobutamine. Sudden death was defined as death within 1 hour of symptoms if heart failure symptoms remained stable over the previous 7 days. Conventionally treated patients were followed for 10 +/- 9 months; patients who underwent staged therapy for 9 +/- 5 months. In the group of patients that underwent standard therapy, 39 of 137 (28%) patients died: 5 (13%) deaths occurred suddenly, and death due to progressive pump failure occurred in the remaining 34 (87%) patients. In the group of patients that underwent staged therapy, 25 of 99 (25%) patients died: 13 (52%) deaths occurred suddenly, and 12 (48%) deaths occurred due to progressive pump failure.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
authors.affiliation: Abteilung für Kardiologie, Universität Wien, Austria.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Frey
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wutte
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Berger
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ioannides
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hülsmann
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Stanek
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pacher
mesh_terms: D000527:Alprostadil / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000806:Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use; D016757:Death, Sudden, Cardiac / Q000453:epidemiology*; D004077:Digoxin / Q000627:therapeutic use; D004280:Dobutamine / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005665:Furosemide / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D016027:Heart Transplantation; D006439:Hemodynamics / Q000187:drug effects*; D006801:Humans; D015993:Life Tables; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D000806:Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme Inhibitors; D004280:Dobutamine; D004077:Digoxin; D005665:Furosemide; D000527:Alprostadil