W. Todd Penberthy, PhD

“The reason we are talking about vaccinations is that they are some of the simplest interventions we can provide our patients to reduce heart failure (HF) hospitalizations and HF exacerbations,” says Dr. Orly Vardeny, PharmD.

Patient selection, proper up-titration, and insurance barriers must be considered by cardiologists and other physicians seeking to treat patients with the new combo medication.

“The reason we are talking about vaccinations is that they are some of the simplest interventions we can provide our patients to reduce heart failure (HF) hospitalizations and HF exacerbations,” says Dr. Orly Vardeny, PharmD.

Patient selection, proper up-titration, and insurance barriers must be considered by cardiologists and other physicians seeking to treat patients with the new combo medication.

Lack of guidelines and recommendations on use, ill-defined value of care, patient preference, and physicians’ lack of awareness are among the factors that can prevent widespread adoption of new medications.

Recent trials involving promising medications to treat patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction have not produced significant reductions in mortality.

Research results presented at HFSA 2016 support switching from conventional treatment approaches to the new combination treatment.

A presentation at the 2016 Heart Failure Society of America Scientific Meeting provided details on serelaxin, ularitide, and other new therapies for heart failure.

Researchers reported black patients enrolled in the PARADIGM-HF study had more favorable prognostic baseline characteristics than white patients in the study. However, black patients exhibited a higher risk for cardiovascular death and hospitalizations.

Subcutaneously administered furosemide yields nearly identical outcomes compared with the traditional intravenous method of delivery, but is more convenient and well tolerated.

Study results presented at the 2016 Heart Failure Society of America Scientific Meeting show that treatment with omecantiv mecarbil improved cardiac function and quality of life in patients with heart failure.

Although they offer an alternative to warfarin for preventing stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation, effective use of the new anticoagulants requires careful patient selection.

The ACC/AHA cholesterol guideline can be a powerful tool for making multifactorial measures of cardiovascular disease risk assessment, particularly in African American populations, but clinicians should be aware of its limitations.

To prepare for coming changes at the CMS driven by the Affordable care Act, multiple sclerosis care centers should begin to develop MS-specific electronic health record templates that record clinical outcome measures.

With so many different interdependent symptoms affecting MS pathogenesis, effective treatment requires intervention by a multidisciplinary team, with progress assessed by validated instruments that measure variables such as physical health, psychological health, and social relationships.

Experimental data suggest that memory-retraining exercises and other cognitive rehabilitation techniques may improve memory acquisition and retention in patients with multiple sclerosis.

Pain is a common symptom in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), with some studies showing that clinically significant pain associated with their disease is experienced by more than half of patients with MS.

Comprehensive care for patients with MS starts with medical treatment of the symptoms of their disease, but must also include intervention by clinicians who can address the mental, physical, and social challenges experienced by many patients.

Early diagnosis is one of the most important characteristics of effective MS treatment, since the greatest irreversible disabilities tend to occur early in the course of MS disease progression.

Physicians must consider a range of factors when initiating treatment with disease-modifying drug therapy and be prepared to switch to another first- or second-line option if the patient fails to respond.

Monoclonal antibodies, chimeric molecules, and other immunomodulating drugs and novel approaches hold real promise for effectively treating multiple sclerosis.

Treating patients with multiple sclerosis who opt to use only supplements and other complementary and alternative approaches requires a great deal of tact and education, and input and support from all members of the multidisciplinary treatment team.