Nesiritide in patients hospitalized for acute heart failure: does timing matter? Implication for future acute heart failure trials

Outcomes of patients hospitalized for acute decompensated heart failure: does nesiritide make a difference?

BACKGROUND Nesiritide is indicated in the treatment of acute decompensated heart failure. However, a recent meta-analysis reported that nesiritide may be associated with an increased risk of death. Our goal was to evaluate the impact of nesiritide treatment on four outcomes among adults hospitalized for congestive heart failure (CHF) during a three-year period. METHODS CHF patients discharged...

Nesiritide in acute decompensated heart failure.

To the Editor: In an editorial accompanying an article by O’Connor et al.1 on the effect of nesiritide in patients with acute decompensated heart failure (July 7 issue), Topol2 describes the meandering path of nesiritide from approval by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on the basis of limited data through an ultimately disappointing pivotal trial. This discussion of the unfortunate legac...

Timing and duration of interventions in clinical trials for patients with hospitalized heart failure.

Acute heart failure facts and numbers: acute heart failure populations

Acute heart failure (AHF) is a life-threatening emergency, which largely profits from early diagnosis and treatment. The prevalence of AHF is difficult to assess, estimates range between 1 and 12% in the general population. Despite recent therapeutic advances, in-hospital mortality is high with estimates varying from 4 and 18% in different registries. Due to large differences in AHF definitions...

End points for clinical trials in acute heart failure syndromes.

Acute heart failure syndromes (AHFS) remain a major cause of morbidity and mortality, in part because the development of new therapies for these disorders has been marked by frequent failure and little success. The heterogeneity of current approaches to AHFS drug development, particularly with regard to end points, remains a major potential barrier to progress in the field. End points involving...