Author: Richard Mindham – Steering Committee Member – Patient Representative After more than six years of research, the British IRONMAN trial has demonstrated that infusions of intravenous (IV) iron can improve Quality of Life in patients with heart failure (HF) and low iron levels. The IRONMAN trial, which was funded by the British Heart Foundation […]

DAPA-HF is the first outcomes trial with an SGLT2 inhibitor, Farxiga for treatment for patients with HFrEF HOPE for people living with heart failure has been presented on the 1st September 2019 BST 1.30pm at ESC Congress in Paris 2019. Detailed results of the Phase III DAPA-HF trial show all the primary endpoints achieved with […]

ISCOMAT trial The ISCOMAT trial is now recruiting patients across the UK. This is a large trial based around the management of heart failure medicines with patients. The ISCOMAT trial centre is based across Bradford and Leeds and is one of the largest current NIHR funded trails on heart failure across the country. The Pumping […]

Getting Flu Vaccine Cuts Risk of Death by Half in People with Heart Failure For people with heart failure, getting a seasonal influenza (flu) vaccine in a given year was associated with a 50 percent drop in the risk of death during flu season and a 20 percent drop in the risk of death during […]

Cardiotrophin improves heart health and repairs damage in lab models Researchers have discovered that a protein called cardiotrophin 1 (CT1) can trick the heart into growing in a healthy way and pumping more blood, just as it does in response to exercise and pregnancy. They show that this good kind of heart growth is very […]

New pericytes discovery could reverse tissue damage caused by heart attacks A new discovery by University of Bristol scientists helps to explain how cells which surround blood vessels, called pericytes, stimulate new blood vessels to grow with the hormone ‘leptin’ playing a key role. Leptin is produced by fat cells which helps to regulate energy […]

Microneedle patches provide an alternative to conventional needle-and-syringe immunisation, and potentially offer improved immunogenicity, simplicity, cost-effectiveness, acceptability, and safety. In a recent Phase I trial, safety, immunogenicity, and acceptability of the first-in-man study on single, dissolvable microneedle patch vaccination against influenza was evaluated. The influenza vaccine can offer the best available protection against the flu […]

Novartis Phase III study shows ACZ885 (canakinumab) reduces cardiovascular risk in people who survived a heart attack Phase III CANTOS study met the primary endpoint, a composite of heart attack, stroke and cardiovascular death, showing that ACZ885 (canakinumab) in combination with standard of care therapy reduces cardiovascular risk in people with a prior heart attack […]

Nitrate supplementation [Beetroot Juice] decreases sympathetic nerve responses that contribute to heart disease risk Bethesda, Md. (May 10, 2017)—A new study finds that dietary nitrate—a compound that dilates blood vessels to decrease blood pressure—may reduce overstimulation of the sympathetic nervous system that occurs with heart disease. The research team looked specifically at beetroot juice, a […]

Favourable effects of vitamin D on cardiac function in patients with chronic heart failure secondary to left ventricular systolic dysfunction – the results of the MRC-funded VINDICATE Study A daily dose of vitamin D3 improves heart function in people with chronic heart failure, a five-year University of Leeds research project has found. Dr Klaus Witte, […]

Clinical Trial of Medtronic Heart Pump HVAD Delivers Positive Results with Less-Invasive Implant Procedure   Medtronic plc announce results of the ENDURANCE Supplemental trial in a late-breaking clinical trial session of the 2017 International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation (ISHLT) Scientific Meeting in San Diego. The study evaluated the company’s HVAD(TM) System as a […]

NIHR CLAHRC Wessex – How Social Network Community Support Aids Management of Long-Term Conditions – Can You Help? Our friends at the National Institute for Health Research CLAHRC Wessex are calling for people with Heart Failure and other long term conditions to help inform them of the help they receive from social network and online support groups to […]