Patients with heart failure could soon be treated at home following a world-first NHS trial at a Scots hospital.
Cardiologists say a new treatment pioneered in Glasgow will not only improve outcomes for patients but will remove the need for them to spent up to ten days in hospital.
Heart failure is a condition where the heart does not pump blood around the body as efficiently as it should.
As a result, fluid often gathers in the lungs or legs, causing shortness of breath and swollen legs. It accounts for 180,000 annual NHS inpatient bed days.
The current treatment involves giving medicines called diuretics, or ‘water tablets’, to make people pass more urine.
READ MORE: How Scots doctors are leading the way in the treatment of heart disease
For many people with heart failure, if there is a lot of swelling in their legs, the treatment has to happen in hospital with medication given intravenously through a drip.
The American derived device is fitted with a small needle, which delivers a new drug under the patient’s skin to help reduce fluid build-up.
Following a successful initial trial stage at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, where NHS patients were the first in the world to be able to use the device and drug as in-patients, the treatment is moving into its second stage, which will allow them to use the drug and device in their own homes.
Dr Joanna Osmanska, Clinical Research Fellow at the Institute of Cardiovascular and Medical Sciences, said patients were impressed by how straightforward the treatment was.
READ MORE: Scot receives heart transplant in time to see child born
She said: “This is a big step forward in our mission to improve life for patients with heart failure.”
Alex Miller, 64, from King’s Park, in the south side of Glasgow was among the patients who took part in the first phase of the trial.
He said: “It was painless, after 10 or 15 minutes I forgot it was even attached. It was
non-intrusive, whereas previously it would take a lot of time and take up nurse’s times.
“The gadget did it all for me.”
In Scotland, around 685,000 people are living with cardiovascular disease and at least 48,000 of those have heart failure.
It usually occurs because the heart has become too weak or stiff.
It can occur at any age, but is most common in older people and while it cannot be cured, it can often be controlled for many years.
Symptoms include; breathlessness after activity or at rest, feeling tired most of the time and finding exercise exhausting and swollen ankles and legs.
Dr Ross Campbell, Consultant Cardiologist and principal investigator at Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, Glasgow, where the trial was conducted said the new treatment would benefit the NHS “at an extremely challenging time.”
He said: “This trial has been an excellent example of the type of practice-changing clinical research that is possible within the NHS, in partnership with the University of Glasgow.
READ MORE: The public health change led by Scotland credited for a 74% drop in heart attacks
“More importantly, this work will allow us to progress to the next phase of the research programme, which will enable us to treat patients with heart failure in their own home.
“This is something that patients want, we have been unable to deliver in the past, and that the NHS needs at this extremely challenging time.”
Earlier this year, a landmark study revealed the heart attacks have fallen by 74% in Scotland over the past 25 years.
The smoking ban and increased uptake of cholesterol testing and statin drugs are said to have contributed to a dramatic reduction in the incidence of Scotland’s biggest killer.
Researchers said the figures equated to 42,000 heart attacks being prevented or delayed. The number of strokes fell by 68% over the same period.
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