Heart failure Metra, Marco, MD; Teerlink, John R, MD
The Lancet (British edition),
10/2017, Letnik:
390, Številka:
10106
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Summary Heart failure is common in adults, accounting for substantial morbidity and mortality worldwide. Its prevalence is increasing because of ageing of the population and improved treatment of ...acute cardiovascular events, despite the efficacy of many therapies for patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction, such as angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs), β blockers, and mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists, and advanced device therapies. Combined angiotensin receptor blocker neprilysin inhibitors (ARNIs) have been associated with improvements in hospital admissions and mortality from heart failure compared with enalapril, and guidelines now recommend substitution of ACE inhibitors or ARBs with ARNIs in appropriate patients. Improved safety of left ventricular assist devices means that these are becoming more commonly used in patients with severe symptoms. Antidiabetic therapies might further improve outcomes in patients with heart failure. New drugs with novel mechanisms of action, such as cardiac myosin activators, are under investigation for patients with heart failure with reduced left ventricular ejection fraction. Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction is a heterogeneous disorder that remains incompletely understood and will continue to increase in prevalence with the ageing population. Although some data suggest that spironolactone might improve outcomes in these patients, no therapy has conclusively shown a significant effect. Hopefully, future studies will address these unmet needs for patients with heart failure. Admissions for acute heart failure continue to increase but, to date, no new therapies have improved clinical outcomes.
Acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF) is one of the leading admission diagnoses worldwide, yet it is an entity with incompletely understood pathophysiology and limited therapeutic options. ...Patients admitted for ADHF have high in-hospital morbidity and mortality, as well as frequent rehospitalizations and subsequent cardiovascular death. This devastating clinical course is partly due to suboptimal medical management of ADHF with persistent congestion upon hospital discharge and inadequate predischarge initiation of life-saving guideline-directed therapies. While new drugs for the treatment of chronic HF continue to be approved, there has been no new therapy approved for ADHF in decades. This review will focus on the current limited understanding of ADHF pathophysiology, possible therapeutic targets, and current limitations in expanding available therapies in light of the unmet need among these high-risk patients.
The sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitor empagliflozin reduces the risk of cardiovascular death or heart failure hospitalization in patients with chronic heart failure, but whether empagliflozin ...also improves clinical outcomes when initiated in patients who are hospitalized for acute heart failure is unknown. In this double-blind trial (EMPULSE; NCT04157751 ), 530 patients with a primary diagnosis of acute de novo or decompensated chronic heart failure regardless of left ventricular ejection fraction were randomly assigned to receive empagliflozin 10 mg once daily or placebo. Patients were randomized in-hospital when clinically stable (median time from hospital admission to randomization, 3 days) and were treated for up to 90 days. The primary outcome of the trial was clinical benefit, defined as a hierarchical composite of death from any cause, number of heart failure events and time to first heart failure event, or a 5 point or greater difference in change from baseline in the Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire Total Symptom Score at 90 days, as assessed using a win ratio. More patients treated with empagliflozin had clinical benefit compared with placebo (stratified win ratio, 1.36; 95% confidence interval, 1.09-1.68; P = 0.0054), meeting the primary endpoint. Clinical benefit was observed for both acute de novo and decompensated chronic heart failure and was observed regardless of ejection fraction or the presence or absence of diabetes. Empagliflozin was well tolerated; serious adverse events were reported in 32.3% and 43.6% of the empagliflozin- and placebo-treated patients, respectively. These findings indicate that initiation of empagliflozin in patients hospitalized for acute heart failure is well tolerated and results in significant clinical benefit in the 90 days after starting treatment.
Intrinsic inotropic stimulation of the heart is central to the regulation of cardiovascular function, and exogenous inotropic therapies have been used clinically for decades. Unfortunately, current ...inotropic drugs have consistently failed to show beneficial effects beyond short-term haemodynamic improvement in patients with heart failure. To address these limitations, new agents targeting novel mechanisms are being developed: (i) istaroxime has been developed as a non-glycoside inhibitor of the sodium-potassium-ATPase with additional stimulatory effects on the sarcoplasmic reticulum calcium pump (SERCA) and has shown lusitropic and inotropic properties in experimental and early clinical studies; (ii) from a mechanistic point of view, the cardiac myosin activators, directly activating the acto-myosin cross-bridges, are most appealing with improved cardiac performance in both animal and early clinical studies; (iii) gene therapy approaches have been successfully employed to increase myocardial SERCA2a; (iv) nitroxyl donors have been developed and have shown evidence of positive lusitropic and inotropic, as well as potent vasodilatory effects in early animal studies; (v) the ryanodine receptor stabilizers reduce pathological leak of calcium from the sarcoplasmic reticulum with initial promising pre-clinical results; and finally, (vi) metabolic energy modulation may represent a promising means to improve contractile performance of the heart. There is an urgent clinical need for agents that improve cardiac performance with a favourable safety profile. These current novel approaches to improving cardiac function provide the hope that such agents may soon be available.
Summary Background Many patients with heart failure remain symptomatic and have a poor prognosis despite existing treatments. Decreases in myocardial contractility and shortening of ventricular ...systole are characteristic of systolic heart failure and might be improved by a new therapeutic class, cardiac myosin activators. We report the first study of the cardiac myosin activator, omecamtiv mecarbil, in patients with systolic heart failure. Methods We undertook a double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover, dose-ranging, phase 2 trial investigating the effects of omecamtiv mecarbil (formerly CK-1827452), given intravenously for 2, 24, or 72 h to patients with stable heart failure and left ventricular systolic dysfunction receiving guideline-indicated treatment. Clinical assessment (including vital signs, echocardiograms, and electrocardiographs) and testing of plasma drug concentrations took place during and after completion of each infusion. The primary aim was to assess safety and tolerability of omecamtiv mecarbil. This study is registered at ClinicalTrials.gov , NCT00624442. Findings 45 patients received 151 infusions of active drug or placebo. Placebo-corrected, concentration-dependent increases in left ventricular ejection time (up to an 80 ms increase from baseline) and stroke volume (up to 9·7 mL) were recorded, associated with a small reduction in heart rate (up to 2·7 beats per min; p<0·0001 for all three measures). Higher plasma concentrations were also associated with reductions in end-systolic (decrease of 15 mL at >500 ng/mL, p=0·0026) and end-diastolic volumes (16 mL, p=0·0096) that might have been more pronounced with increased duration of infusion. Cardiac ischaemia emerged at high plasma concentrations (two patients, plasma concentrations roughly 1750 ng/mL and 1350 ng/mL). For patients tolerant of all study drug infusions, no consistent pattern of adverse events with either dose or duration emerged. Interpretation Omecamtiv mecarbil improved cardiac function in patients with heart failure caused by left ventricular dysfunction and could be the first in class of a new therapeutic agent. Funding Cytokinetics Inc.
Aims
In this analysis, we utilized data from PARADIGM‐HF to test the hypothesis that participants who exhibited any dose reduction during the trial would have similar benefits from lower doses of ...sacubitril/valsartan relative to lower doses of enalapril.
Methods and results
In a post‐hoc analysis from PARADIGM‐HF, we characterized patients by whether they received the maximal dose (200 mg sacubitril/valsartan or 10 mg enalapril twice daily) throughout the trial or had any dose reduction to lower doses (100/50/0 mg sacubitril/valsartan or 5/2.5/0 mg enalapril twice daily). The treatment effect for the primary outcome was estimated, stratified by dose level using time‐updated Cox regression models. In the two treatment arms, participants with a dose reduction (43% of those randomized to enalapril and 42% of those randomized to sacubitril/valsartan) had similar baseline characteristics and similar baseline predictors of the need for dose reduction. In a time‐updated analysis, any dose reduction was associated with a higher subsequent risk of the primary event hazard ratio (HR) 2.5, 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.2–2.7. However, the treatment benefit of sacubitril/valsartan over enalapril following a dose reduction was similar (HR 0.80, 95% CI 0.70–0.93, P < 0.001) to that observed in patients who had not experienced any dose reduction (HR 0.79, 95% CI 0.71–0.88, P < 0.001).
Conclusions
In PARADIGM‐HF, study medication dose reduction identified patients at higher risk of a major cardiovascular event. The magnitude of benefit for patients on lower doses of sacubitril/valsartan relative to those on lower doses of enalapril was similar to that of patients who remained on target doses of both drugs.
Summary Background Impaired contractility is a feature of heart failure with reduced ejection fraction. We assessed the pharmacokinetics and effects on cardiac function and structure of the cardiac ...myosin activator, omecamtiv mecarbil. Methods In this randomised, double-blind study, done at 87 sites in 13 countries, we recruited patients with stable, symptomatic chronic heart failure and left ventricular ejection fraction 40% or lower. Patients were randomly assigned equally, via an interactive web response system, to receive 25 mg oral omecamtiv mecarbil twice daily (fixed-dose group), 25 mg twice daily titrated to 50 mg twice daily guided by pharmacokinetics (pharmacokinetic-titration group), or placebo for 20 weeks. We assessed the maximum concentration of omecamtiv mecarbil in plasma (primary endpoint) and changes in cardiac function and ventricular diameters. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov , number NCT01786512. Findings From March 17, 2014, to March 5, 2015, we enrolled 150 patients in the fixed-dose omecamtiv mecarbil group and 149 in the pharmacokinetic-titration and placebo groups. Mean maximum concentration of omecamtiv mecarbil at 12 weeks was 200 (SD 71) ng/mL in the fixed-dose group and 318 (129) ng/mL in the pharmacokinetic-titration group. For the pharmacokinetic-titration group versus placebo group at 20 weeks, least square mean differences were as follows: systolic ejection time 25 ms (95% CI 18–32, p<0·0001), stroke volume 3·6 mL (0·5–6·7, p=0·0217), left ventricular end-systolic diameter −1·8 mm (−2·9 to −0·6, p=0·0027), left ventricular end-diastolic diameter −1·3 mm, (−2·3 to 0·3, p=0·0128), heart rate −3·0 beats per min (−5·1 to −0·8, p=0·0070), and N-terminal pro B-type natriuretic peptide concentration in plasma −970 pg/mL (−1672 to −268, p=0·0069). The frequency of adverse clinical events did not differ between groups. Interpretation Omecamtiv mecarbil dosing guided by pharmacokinetics achieved plasma concentrations associated with improved cardiac function and decreased ventricular diameter. Funding Amgen.