New Study Provides Additional Insight Into Different Forms Of Heart Failure

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The researchers at the University of Texas Arlington's College of Nursing and Health Innovation has been able to measure oxygen consumption in the legs of heart failure patients. they used a novel noninvasive technique, thereby providing additional insight into the syndrome.

The findings of the study lead to a better treatment of patients in the future. In the study, the authors recruited ten old heart failure patients with either big, stiff hearts that do not relax properly after exercise or big, dilated hearts that do not pump blood well. But both types of patients have high mortality rates.

Generally, measuring blood flow in the leg and oxygen extraction and consumption is not an easy task as it requires the insertion of a catheter into the artery and vein. The researchers developed a technique that is capable of measuring blood flow in the leg and oxygen consumption using magnetic resonance imagining technology (MRI). They measured the leg oxygen consumption and its determinants during the recovery period following four minutes of constant knee extension exercise.

"We wanted to see if these two groups differ in their leg oxygen consumption in the recovery period after exercise, and if so, why this occurred," the college's Moritz Chair of Gerontology Nursing Research and senior author of the study, Mark Haykowsky said. Their measurements displayed that there was a significant difference between the two groups with leg blood flow and oxygen uptake recovery took longer in patients that have dilated hearts, according to Science Daily.

The researchers believe that the study is an important breakthrough as it was able to distinguish between different groups of heart failure patients. They noted that it could have important effects for exercise rehabilitation in heart failure patients.

The study authors think that since they were able to differentiate between the heart failure groups then it will not be difficult in the future to target therapies that will enhance the increase of blood flow to the muscles and also improve exercise capacity. This is because fatigue and exercise intolerance are key features in heart failure.

The dean of College of Nursing and Health Innovation, Anne Bavier said the findings of study further positions UTA as an innovative leader in the combat against heart disease and would probably be a source of hope to millions of people. She added the instant study is a very important weapon in the battle against heart failure, according to Medical Express.

It indicates that there are different underlying pathologies among the groups of patients with various forms of heart failure, thus giving room for the possibility of therapies specifically targeted at the various groups. The findings of the study were published in the journal PLOS One.