Cardiology

Estimated reading time: 4-5 minutes

It’s not just recognizing the urgency of heart failure. It’s having a clear path to early intervention.

Cardiologists checking scans at monitor

Heart failure remains a challenge


Heart failure is increasing in prevalence, and results in significant costs and impact to quality of life.1 Early diagnosis and management of heart failure is a challenge that requires not only smart diagnostic systems but also integrated workflows and information that support both diagnostic confidence and clinical efficiency. Diagnostic tools such as 3D echocardiography and cardiac MR can deliver rich clinical insights for heart failure diagnosis and the patient care pathway, but historically have also added time and complexity to a study.

At a glance

Challenge
Streamlining and integrating workflows to support clear care pathways for early diagnosis and management of heart failure patients at risk of progression to more severe disease.

Solution

Noninvasive imaging solutions with AI-driven automation for streamlined workflows and reproducible insights bring clinical efficiency to 3D echo and cardiac MR strain.

Results
Integrated workflows with reproducible and robust imaging results, fast exams, advanced visualization and comprehensive image and information management are bringing the diagnostic confidence and efficiency to help clinicians diagnose and manage heart failure early.

Substantial financial impact and reduced quality of life

Heartfailure affects approximately
26 million patients

Heart failure affects approximately 26 million patients worldwide, representing a significant cause of morbidity and mortality.2 Heart failure has a substantial financial impact related to hospitalization, medication, and procedural expenses, and the costs of heart failure also extend to the reduced quality of life associated with its symptoms.2 Can we identify patients earlier in the disease process to allow for early initiation of guideline-driven therapy, prolonging the time until they experience advanced stages of heart failure?

“The subclinical population is obviously a huge one. In real life, we’re just not as committed until we get that diagnosis that there’s muscle disease, myocardial dysfunction in this patient. That’s where sometimes the disconnect occurs,” says Dr. Marcus Stoddard, cardiology specialist, in highlighting the challenge of managing heart failure progression. Fortunately, workflows can be integrated, streamlining advanced imaging, visualization and informatics for a more complete picture of the patient during the entire cardiac care journey.

Enhance diagnostic confidence throughout the journey


“Clinicians are very astute in how they manage their patients,” says Dr. Stoddard. “These modalities can help us make sure we’re still on target for an individual patient, particularly those that are at higher risk of progressing.”

What’s changing?


Dr. Stoddard finds the combination of quality imaging and the AI-enabled automated tools in the cardiovascular workspace valuable in the ongoing management of heart failure patients, including assessing the need for interventional solutions. He says,

Photo of Dr. Marcus Stoddard, University of Louisville School of Medicine, Louisville, KY, USA
Strain is now so quick and so easy to do. [The cardiovascular workspace] is very helpful in terms of chronic management of the patient with heart failure to prevent them from getting worse. It can tell me surely if there’s a change in EF, LV volume size, longitudinal strain. It lets me know if I’m losing ground and the myocardial disease process is progressing. That allows me to think about what I could do differently in maybe a more aggressive fashion in that particular patient.”

Dr. Marcus Stoddard

University of Louisville School of Medicine, Louisville, KY, USA

Cardiovascular disease is even more problematic in the face of COVID-19


The COVID-19 pandemic has presented special challenges for patients with cardiovascular disease. Not only is there a diagnostic imaging backlog caused by the pandemic that affects access to timely care, but also COVID-19 and cardiovascular disease are associated in at least two important ways. Pre-existing cardiovascular disease appears to be linked to more negative outcomes and increased risk of death in patients with COVID-19,3 and COVID-19 has also been found to induce myocardial injury, arrhythmia, acute coronary syndrome and venous thromboembolism.3

How can we improve the workflow to help improve care?


Clinicians are driving clinical efficiency and diagnostic confidence through innovations in workflows. Advances in AI allow clinicians to use 2D and 3D imaging techniques for precise quantification in without an increase in exam time. MR advances such as the Fast-SENC* acquisition sequence and the MyoStrain analysis tool by Myocardial Solutions allow early dysfunction of heart failure to be detected across 48 segments of the heart in 10 minutes.4 These modalities are supported by a unified workspace that gives a complete view of a patient’s cardiac history through a timeline of images and information, easily accessible for productive collaboration across specialties.

Go in-depth


Would you like to know more about how integrated workflows in heart failure support early, precise and confident detection of disease progression—even in the earliest (pre-clinical) stages of the disease? We’re excited to share what we’ve learned with you.

Improve the workflow to help improve care

Read the complete article to learn more about integrating workflows to make early intervention practical in heart failure.

Here’s how Philips can support you

Philips Fast-SENC and MyoStrain


With this combination, early dysfunction of heart failure can be detected across 48 segments of the heart in 10 minutes.4

Footnote:
*Fast-SENC is another term for SENC.

Results from case studies are not predictive of results in other cases. Results in other cases may vary.

1 Ehrmann Feldman D, Xiao Y, Bernatsky S, et al. Consultation with cardiologists for persons with new-onset chronic heart failure: a population-based study. Can J Cardiol. 2009;25(12):690-694. DOI:10.1016/s0828-282x(09)70528-8.

2 Bowen R, Graetz T, Emmert D, et al. Statistics of heart failure and mechanical circulatory support in 2020. Ann Transl Med. 2020;8(13):827. dx.doi.org/10.21037/atm-20-1127.

3 Nishiga M, Wang DW, Han Y. et al. COVID-19 and cardiovascular disease: from basic mechanisms to clinical perspectives. Nat Rev Cardiol. 2020;17:543–558. doi.org/10.1038/s41569-020-0413-9.

4 Korosoglou G, Giusca S, Hofmann NP, et al. Strain-encoded magnetic resonance: a method for the assessment of myocardial deformation. ESC Heart Fail. 2019;6(4):584-602. DOI:10.1002/ehf2.12442.

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At a glance

Challenge
Streamlining and integrating workflows to support clear care pathways for early diagnosis and management of heart failure patients at risk of progression to more severe disease.

Solution

Noninvasive imaging solutions with AI-driven automation for streamlined workflows and reproducible insights bring clinical efficiency to 3D echo and cardiac MR strain.

Results
Integrated workflows with reproducible and robust imaging results, fast exams, advanced visualization and comprehensive image and information management are bringing the diagnostic confidence and efficiency to help clinicians diagnose and manage heart failure early.

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