New high-tech developments keep CHF patients on right treatment path
New high-tech developments keep CHF patients on right treatment path
Finding the right balance of medications to put them on track isn’t easy
In their world of routines punctuated by urgent events, CHF caregivers are no strangers to technology and its implications. They treat the patients who still develop CHF, despite first being saved by cardiac surgery. Caregivers use indexes like ejection fractions and exercise tests to get a sense of how much a patient can do day to day before feeling symptoms. They use pillboxes, telephones, and beepers to remind patients about their medication schedules.
Thanks to formal programs such as telemanagement, some patients learn how to handle procedures such as regulating diuretics at home, or where to turn for advice when they are gaining weight. Computer software, e-mail, and the Internet are also available to help. And the clinician’s arsenal continues to expand.
But how do patients get on the right treatment path in the first place? Doctors and pharmacists alike say it often can be difficult to find just the right balance of medications that will be effective for controlling any one particular patient’s disease.
Swedish researchers say they may have found a piece to the puzzle by developing a genetic test that determines how hypertensive patients respond to ACE inhibitors. The hope is to help doctors choose drugs that will be effective for individual patients, instead of assuming a drug will help someone because it was successful in the majority of cases during a clinical trial. A quick genetic test that scans a patient for recognized profiles that are known to be associated with good or poor response can help make starting out more efficient.
But like that surgical patient who returns with heart failure, initial benefits may bring more responsibilities later, such as defending a patient’s right to keep the genetic information private.
And once patients are placed on the right treatment path, new high-tech options are becoming available to help keep them on it. A group of Illinois CHF caregivers, for example, has found it can reduce hospitalizations and increase patient compliance simply by providing a way for both sides to communicate daily status of the patient and proper maintenance measures.
In just one minute a day, CHF patients phone their weight and symptoms into a computerized data processor that prompts physician response if needed. One developer likens it to the way mom always got you to brush your teeth, until the routine was so ingrained it became second nature. Staying in such close contact with patients may further tighten treatment of the disease.
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