Top 10 Medical Innovations according to the Cleveland Clinic (10)

Specialists of the Cleveland Clinic, Ohio, have compiled another annual list of innovations that, in their opinion, will have the greatest impact on the healthcare system in the coming 2015.

№ 10. Angiotensin receptor and non-lysine inhibitor
for the treatment of heart failure

Heart failure develops as a result of a decrease in the ability of the heart to pump blood. Between 500,000 and 900,000 new cases are diagnosed annually in the United States alone. Despite significant advances in diagnosis and therapy, the prognosis for these patients remains unfavorable. The 5-year survival rate for such a diagnosis is less than 50%, and the 10-year survival rate is less than 25%.

The most common cause causing the development of heart failure is myocardial damage in ischemic heart disease or high blood pressure.

The main symptoms include shortness of breath, fluid retention in the body and excessive urination at night. Initially mild symptoms eventually lead to the fact that any minor activity causes physical exhaustion in the patient.

Despite the unfavorable prognoses of the course of the disease and its incurable nature (in some cases, the only way out is the transplantation of a donor heart), currently doctors have a whole arsenal of drugs and medical devices that can prolong life and alleviate the condition of patients.

One of the most effective modern methods of treating heart failure is the use of angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors that increase the efficiency of the heart by dilating blood vessels, in combination with beta-blockers that reduce the load on the heart. This combination therapy can halve the risk of death from heart failure

However, an experimental drug has recently appeared, which has aroused great interest from cardiologists around the world.

The largest clinical trial of a drug for the treatment of heart failure in the history of medicine, which involved more than 8,000 patients from 47 countries, was discontinued 7 months ahead of schedule. The reason for this was the data obtained, according to which the experimental drug taken twice a day reduced the frequency of death from diseases of the cardiovascular system and hospitalization due to heart failure by 20% compared with therapy with enalapril, a traditional angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor. Moreover, the overall mortality in the group taking the experimental drug was 16% lower than in the group taking enalapril.

The new drug, called an angiotensin receptor and neprilysin inhibitor, is a combination of an angiotensin receptor blocker and sacubitril, an inhibitor of the neprilysin enzyme.

The expected introduction of this drug into clinical practice in 2015 means a complete revision of approaches to the treatment of heart failure. It will prevent the death of people, reduce long-term medical costs and significantly improve the condition of patients with heart failure.

Evgeniya Ryabtseva
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru based on the materials of the Cleveland Clinic: Top 10 Innovations for 2015.

11.12.2014