Luanda Grazette, University of Miami – Heart Failure: No Longer A Death Sentence

On University of Miami Miller School of Medicine Week:  More patients are surviving heart failure than ever before.

Luanda Grazette, professor of medicine, examines why.

Dr. Luanda Grazette joined the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine in November 2020 and is a professor of medicine and Director of Advanced Heart Failure, Heart Failure Recovery and Therapeutic Innovation. Her NIH funded clinical and translational research centers on the basic mechanisms of cardiac toxicity, plasticity and survival. In addition, she is an active mentor of students, residents and fellows.

Heart Failure: No Longer A Death Sentence

For many years, heart failure was seen as a deadly diagnosis, but recent advances are providing patients markedly better outcomes. Many patients, in fact, live long full lives and are able to manage their CHF in a manner similar to other chronic conditions, such as diabetes. With current medical and device therapies, more than ever before patients are able to return to a functional state similar to what they had before they developed heart failure. For many years we considered recovery or remission of heart failure to be a rare event, but in the decade we began examining this phenomena in a more dedicated fashion, and it appears to be more common than we thought. 

Part of what we want to do here is take an intentional approach to promoting heart failure recovery and expanding knowledge in the field by measuring those effects and changes that are associated with recovery, so that we can do a better job in the future of determining which patients have a chance of recovery and remission and also in earlier identification of patients who should be considered for the life-saving advanced interventions like cardiac transplant and VAD.

A key to a great heart failure program is multidisciplinary collaboration.  Our expanded team includes electrophysiologists, interventional cardiologists, investigators, cardiac rehab, pulmonary hypertension, and sleep medicine experts–all working to improve the quality of care for patients with heart failure. Because of this approach we are able to offer our patients access to the latest FDA approved therapies, such as the BaroStim Neo, the first neuromodulatory treatment for heart failure aimed at regulating cardiovascular function, and participation in clinical trials of novel therapies.

What’s great is about our current era that we know that heart failure survival is improving and we are seeing more patients than ever with recovery and remission. People with heart failure should know that by taking their medications, eating healthy, exercising and with proper guidance and follow-up from their clinicians, they may enjoy great quality of life and very good survival.