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Consistency is Key to Heart Failure TreatmentHeart failure patients will find the highest quality care at Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin, and that means thorough, consistent care, says Mary Anne Papp, DO, FACC, Medical College of Wisconsin Cardiologist and Director of the Heart Failure Clinic.
“Heart failure has to be constantly and consistently managed,” Dr. Papp explains, “and the more closely, more thoroughly and the better the disease is managed, the better the outcome.”
Heart failure management at Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin offers several advantages, including the maximum use of current evidence-based therapy. One of the newest therapies, called Aquapheresis™, allows physicians to quickly remove fluid in heart failure patients for whom diuretics have stopped working. The Cardiovascular Center at Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin is one of the only centers in this region offering this treatment.
“Overall, our approach manages the patient on a weekly basis to achieve maximum goals,” Dr. Papp says. “Patients are monitored on a regular basis for adjustment of evidence-based therapies. For instance, a patient who has had fluid removed may get the flu the next week and be unable to keep fluids down. We may need to stop the water pill that week. Consistent follow up and adjustment to a patient’s condition are key to maximal therapy.”
Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin also offer a home-based telemetry exercise program for heart failure patients. “Our philosophy is that heart failure is the failure of the heart to meet the demands of the body,” Dr. Papp explains. “One way to improve heart failure is to improve the effectiveness of the body by training it. We incorporate exercise even in heart failure.”
The best in patient care helps drive the management of heart failure at Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin. “Heart failure demographics are changing as our population ages,” says Dr. Papp. “If we go back to 1980, the most common cause of heart failure was heart attack, and the average person lived five years after that. At the current time, age is the biggest predictor of survival and mortality. The median age obviously has substantially changed, so it is common for our patients to have multiple co-existing illnesses – lung disease, heart disease, and kidney insufficiency. We have to start considering heart failure a chronic illness that needs consistent, and chronic management, much like we would consistently manage diabetes. It’s not expected to go away. We expect to manage it optimally.”
Source: Every Day Date: May - July 2006 Issue | Medical Reviewer: | Mary Anne Papp, DO, FACC | | Medical College of Wisconsin Cardiologist |
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