Post-Heart Attack “Bleeding” Predicts Future Heart Failure

Research presented at this week’s British Cardiovascular Society Conference, held June 6-8 in Manchester, England, found that the amount of “bleeding” following a heart attack can foretell future heart failure.

In presenting the findings, lead study author Colin Berry, PhD, a professor of cardiology and imaging at the University of Glasgow, noted that more than 40% of individuals who experience a heart attack also experience bleeding, or bruising, of the heart, an injury that Berry and his coauthors say is linked to a greater risk of heart failure in the months following a heart attack.
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The study, which was funded by the British Heart Foundation, found that bleeding was connected to a 2.6-times higher risk of adverse remodeling, by which heart muscle changes shape, portending heart failure. In addition, the researchers linked bleeding to a 6-times greater risk of death or heart failure after a heart attack, and validated a test to be used at the time of heart attack treatment as a way to determine if heart muscle bleeding has occurred, and a patient’s likelihood of survival free of heart failure.

“It has only recently become possible to detect heart muscle bleeding, as revealed by MRI,” said Berry, adding that MRI is in fact “not routinely available” in the National Health Service (NHS) for heart imaging after heart attack.

The standard of care, he said, is cardiac ultrasonography, or echocardiography, “which is widely available across the NHS and [is] recommended in clinical guidelines.”

At the present time, primary care practitioners “should strive to implement the treatment plans for their patients who have had a heart attack, notably evidence-based medicines, notably evidence-based medicines and cardiac rehabilitation,” Berry said, pointing out that further research is warranted to decide which heart-attack patients would benefit most from the use of MRI.

Primary care physicians, he said, should also “be vigilant for the clinical problems that may develop in heart-attack survivors, [such as] heart failure.”

—Mark McGraw

Reference:

Bleeding hearts predict future heart failure [press release]. Birmingham, England: British Heart Foundation. June 8, 2016. https://www.bhf.org.uk/news-from-the-bhf/news-archive/2016/june/bleeding-heart-research. Accessed June 10, 2016.