palliative care in CARDIOLOGY

Palliative care is recognized as an approach that improves quality of life of patients and families facing life-threatening illnesses. This is achieved through prevention, early identification, assessment and treatment of symptoms and other psycho-social, spiritual and economic issues. Palliative care is not dependent on prognosis and can be delivered as "simultaneous care", together with disease-modifying treatments and adequate symptom relief. Palliative care relies on coordination across settings of care and offers open communication to patients and caregivers...

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE: Breathlessness is a highly prevalent and distressing symptom in patients with cancer and advanced chronic diseases. Symptom management is often overlooked. We explored the experiences of patients, caregivers, and health care providers (HCPs) and their expectations for future service developments. DESIGN: This is a multiperspective qualitative study drawing on semistructured interviews. SETTING/SUBJECTS: Participants were recruited from palliative, respiratory, and cardiology departments of the Munich University Hospital and from a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patient group...

BACKGROUND: Although aortic valve replacement (AVR) can be lifesaving, many patients with symptomatic aortic stenosis do not undergo appropriate therapy. This study sought to examine the characteristics, outcomes, and reasons for not pursuing AVR in a contemporary cohort. METHODS AND RESULTS: We examined 548 patients with severe, symptomatic aortic stenosis not treated with AVR through March 2017. Patients were grouped according to AVR appropriateness based on the presence of medical futility...

Whole or partial trisomy of the short arm of chromosome 9 (9p) is considered to be one of the more frequent chromosome abnormalities compatible with life. The duplication may affect various organs, however the most common symptoms are certain specific facial dysmorphisms and abnormalities of the fingers, toes and nails. A one month old boy presented with failure to thrive, jaundice, ventricular septal defect (VSD) and dysmorphic face. He displayed symptoms of heart failure. The cardiologic examination revealed a significant VSD, hypoplasia of the aortic arch, pulmonary hypertension, decompensated circulatory failure and moderate left ventricle dysfunction...

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Palliative care for end-stage heart failure should be provided by a multidisciplinary team. However, the influence of each occupational category on patients receiving palliative care for end-stage heart failure remains unclear. Thus, this study investigated the relationships between palliative care conferences and positive outcomes of palliative care for end-stage heart failure patients. We sent questionnaires to all cardiology training hospitals authorized by the Japanese Circulation Society (n = 1004); of these, responses from the directors at 554 institutions were analyzed...

BACKGROUND: People with advanced heart failure have repeated hospital admissions. Advance care planning can support patient preferences, but studies in people with heart failure have not been assessed. AIM: To evaluate the literature regarding advance care planning in heart failure. DESIGN: Systematic review and narrative analysis (PROSPERO CRD42017059190). DATA SOURCES: Electronic databases were searched (1990 to 23 March 2017): MEDLINE(R), Cochrane Library, CINAHL and Scopus...

BACKGROUND: Palliative care is specialized medical care for people with serious illness that is focused on providing relief from symptoms and stress and improving the quality of life (QOL) for patients and their families. To help the 6.5 million U.S. adults and families affected by heart failure manage the high symptom burden, complex decision-making, and risk of exacerbation and death, the early integration of palliative care is critical and has been recommended by numerous professional organizations...

The landscape of patient care at the beginning of the 19th century was dramatically different than it is today. With few good treatment options, illness courses were generally brief. Near the end of life, patients were attended to by spiritual advisors, not health care professionals. Death typically occurred at home, surrounded by friends and family. Moving to the present time, decades of medical advances have significantly improved life expectancy. Cardiology has particularly benefited from many of these advances...

OBJECTIVE: To assess neurodevelopmental status in Indian infants undergoing corrective surgery for congenital heart disease (CHD) and to analyze factors associated with neurodevelopmental delay. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SETTING: Tertiary-care pediatric cardiology facility. PARTICIPANTS: Consecutive infants undergoing corrective surgery for CHD (January 2013 -December 2014). Palliative procedures, and patients with known genetic syndromes were excluded...

Visualization and quantification of the adverse effects of distorted blood flow are important emerging fields in cardiology. Abnormal blood flow patterns can be seen in various cardiovascular diseases and are associated with increased energy loss. These adverse energetics can be measured and quantified using 3-dimensional blood flow data, derived from computational fluid dynamics and 4-dimensional flow magnetic resonance imaging, and provide new, promising hemodynamic markers. In patients with palliated single-ventricular heart defects, the Fontan circulation passively directs systemic venous return to the pulmonary circulation in the absence of a functional subpulmonary ventricle...

BACKGROUND: The effectiveness of cardiology-led palliative care is unknown; we have insufficient information to conduct a full trial. AIM: To assess the feasibility (recruitment/retention, data quality, variability/sample size estimation, safety) of a clinical trial of palliative cardiology effectiveness. DESIGN: Non-randomised feasibility. SETTING/PARTICIPANTS: Unmatched symptomatic heart failure patients on optimal cardiac treatment from (1) cardiology-led palliative service (caring together group) and (2) heart failure liaison service (usual care group)...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

Chronic heart failure is a progressive disease with an increasing prevalence. In spite of all medical progress (or thanks to it), it is finally one of the most common causes of death. Palliative care is an approach aimed to improve the quality of life of patients and their families in cases of life-threatening illness. Therefore, the use of palliative care in cardiology is entirely relevant. Estimating the course and prognosis of a patient with chronic heart failure is difficult despite many prognostic tools...

BACKGROUND: Palliative care for heart failure (HF) patients is recommended in Western guidelines, so this study aimed to clarify the current status of palliative care for HF patients in Japan.Methods and Results:A survey was sent to all Japanese Circulation Society-authorized cardiology training hospitals (n=1,004) in August 2016. A total of 544 institutions (54%) returned the questionnaire. Of them, 527 (98%) answered that palliative care is necessary for patients with HF. A total of 227 (42%) institutions held a palliative care conference for patients with HF, and 79% of the institutions had <10 cases per year...

BACKGROUND: The first outpatient heart failure clinic (HFC) in Western New York was developed within a large private cardiology practice with the objective of reducing 30-day all-cause rehospitalization and inpatient mortality. PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to analyze the process and patient outcomes of this independent outpatient HFC. The specific aims were to (a) describe the outpatient care strategies employed and (b) determine whether the HFC reduced 30-day all-cause rehospitalizations and inpatient mortality by comparing HFC data with census data...

BACKGROUND: While the importance of pediatric palliative care (PPC) for children with life-threatening illness is increasingly recognized, little is known about physicians' attitudes toward palliative care for children with heart disease. OBJECTIVE: To compare the perspectives of PPC physicians and pediatric cardiologists regarding palliative care in pediatric heart disease. DESIGN: Cross-sectional web-based surveys. RESULTS: Responses from 183 pediatric cardiologists were compared to those of 49 PPC physicians (response rates 31% [183/589] and 28% [49/175], respectively)...

BACKGROUND: Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a well-recognised complication of adult congenital heart disease (CHD). However, management is not currently standardised between centres and specific guidelines are lacking. In order to identify and understand the unmet needs related to PAH associated with CHD (PAH-CHD), a survey of physicians was performed. METHODS: An electronic survey was sent to two physician groups: (1) cardiologists registered in a UK cardiology directory; (2) specialist pulmonary hypertension (PH) physicians known to manage patients with adult PAH-CHD...

China has the world's largest elderly population, and the oldest-old population, with a current disability rate greater than 50%, will triple in the next 35 years. The field of geriatrics is young, because almost all geriatric departments were established after 2000, and so faces many challenges. Management of diseases and hospital care is the focus. Senior physicians were trained in other subspecialties, such as pulmonary or cardiology, and junior physicians entered geriatrics departments as masters or doctorate students after medical school...

Context: Palliative care services, until recently, were mainly restricted to cancer patients with incurable diseases. Hence, evaluative studies of palliative care are sparse in areas other than oncology. Aims: To estimate what proportion of patients attending the Departments of Neurology, Cardiology, and Nephrology of Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER), Puducherry, required palliative care and to identify the palliative care needs of those patients...