Heart Failure Management: Current Strategies and Best Practices *ACPE-Accredited*

The podcast addresses heart failure with a focus on HFrEF (heart failure with reduced ejection fraction) maintenance therapy. It emphasizes the importance of understanding key definitions like cardiac output, stroke volume, preload, afterload, and ejection fraction to guide medication choices. The discussion covers the New York Heart Association classification for symptom severity and the updated AHA classifications based on ejection fraction, including HFmrEF and HFimpEF. Pharmacotherapy options are detailed, including loop diuretics, ACE inhibitors, ARBs, ARNIs (like Entresto), beta-blockers (bisoprolol, metoprolol succinate, carvedilol), aldosterone antagonists, and SGLT2 inhibitors, highlighting target doses and evidence-based usage. The hosts also touch on additional therapies like hydralazine/isosorbide dinitrate, ivabradine, vericiguat, and digoxin, as well as the importance of achieving a target blood pressure of 130/80.