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The palliative care in heart failure trial: rationale and design.

ABSTRACT: The progressive nature of heart failure (HF) coupled with high mortality and poor quality of life mandates greater attention to palliative care as a routine component of advanced HF management. Limited evidence exists from randomized, controlled trials supporting the use of interdisciplinary palliative care in HF.PAL-HF is a prospective, controlled, unblinded, single-center study of an interdisciplinary palliative care intervention in 200 patients with advanced HF estimated to have a high likelihood of mortality or rehospitalization in the ensuing 6 months. The 6-month PAL-HF intervention focuses on physical and psychosocial symptom relief, attention to spiritual concerns, and advanced care planning. The primary end point is health-related quality of life measured by the Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire and the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy with Palliative Care Subscale score at 6 months. Secondary end points include changes in anxiety/depression, spiritual well-being, caregiver satisfaction, cost and resource utilization, and a composite of death, HF hospitalization, and quality of life.PAL-HF is a randomized, controlled clinical trial that will help evaluate the efficacy and cost effectiveness of palliative care in advanced HF using a patient-centered outcome as well as clinical and economic end points.

SUBMITTER: Mentz RJ

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4254686 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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The palliative care in heart failure trial: rationale and design.

Mentz Robert J RJ Tulsky James A JA Granger Bradi B BB Anstrom Kevin J KJ Adams Patricia A PA Dodson Gwen C GC Fiuzat Mona M Johnson Kimberly S KS Patel Chetan B CB Steinhauser Karen E KE Taylor Donald H DH O'Connor Christopher M CM Rogers Joseph G JG

American heart journal 20140730 5

<h4>Background</h4>The progressive nature of heart failure (HF) coupled with high mortality and poor quality of life mandates greater attention to palliative care as a routine component of advanced HF management. Limited evidence exists from randomized, controlled trials supporting the use of interdisciplinary palliative care in HF.<h4>Methods</h4>PAL-HF is a prospective, controlled, unblinded, single-center study of an interdisciplinary palliative care intervention in 200 patients with advanced ...[more]

PMID: 25440791

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Project description:BackgroundAdvanced heart failure (HF) is characterized by high morbidity and mortality. Conventional therapy may not sufficiently reduce patient suffering and maximize quality of life.ObjectivesThe authors investigated whether an interdisciplinary palliative care intervention in addition to evidence-based HF care improves certain outcomes.MethodsThe authors randomized 150 patients with advanced HF between August 15, 2012, and June 25, 2015, to usual care (UC) (n = 75) or UC plus a palliative care intervention (UC + PAL) (n = 75) at a single center. Primary endpoints were 2 quality-of-life measurements, the Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire (KCCQ) overall summary and the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Palliative Care scale (FACIT-Pal), assessed at 6 months. Secondary endpoints included assessments of depression and anxiety (measured via the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale [HADS]), spiritual well-being (measured via the FACIT-Spiritual Well-Being scale [FACIT-Sp]), hospitalizations, and mortality.ResultsPatients randomized to UC + PAL versus UC alone had clinically significant incremental improvement in KCCQ and FACIT-Pal scores from randomization to 6 months (KCCQ difference = 9.49 points, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.94 to 18.05, p = 0.030; FACIT-Pal difference = 11.77 points, 95% CI: 0.84 to 22.71, p = 0.035). Depression improved in UC + PAL patients (HADS-depression difference = -1.94 points; p = 0.020) versus UC-alone patients, with similar findings for anxiety (HADS-anxiety difference = -1.83 points; p = 0.048). Spiritual well-being was improved in UC + PAL versus UC-alone patients (FACIT-Sp difference = 3.98 points; p = 0.027). Randomization to UC + PAL did not affect rehospitalization or mortality.ConclusionsAn interdisciplinary palliative care intervention in advanced HF patients showed consistently greater benefits in quality of life, anxiety, depression, and spiritual well-being compared with UC alone. (Palliative Care in Heart Failure [PAL-HF]; NCT01589601).

Project description:The rationale and design of the Surgical Treatment for Ischemic Heart Failure trial is described. Before the Surgical Treatment for Ischemic Heart Failure trial, less than 1000 patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy had been studied in randomized comparisons of medical therapy versus coronary artery bypass grafting. Trial data reflect how these therapies were delivered more than 20 years ago and do not indicate the relative benefits of medical therapy versus coronary artery bypass grafting in contemporary practice.Randomization of consenting patients with heart failure, left ventricular ejection fraction of 0.35 or less, and coronary artery disease is based on whether patients are judged by attending physicians to be candidates only for coronary artery bypass grafting or can be treated with medical therapy without coronary artery bypass grafting. Patients eligible for surgical ventricular reconstruction because of significant anterior wall akinesis or dyskinesis but ineligible for medical therapy are randomly assigned to coronary artery bypass grafting with or without surgical ventricular reconstruction. Patients eligible for medical therapy are randomly assigned between medical therapy only and medical therapy with coronary artery bypass grafting. Patients eligible for all 3 are randomly assigned evenly to medical therapy only, medical therapy and coronary artery bypass grafting, or medical therapy and coronary artery bypass grafting and surgical ventricular reconstruction. Major substudies will examine quality of life, cost-effectiveness, changes in left ventricular volumes, effect of myocardial viability, selected biomarkers, and selected polymorphisms on treatment differences.Enrollment is now complete in both STICH hypotheses. Follow-up will continue until sufficient end points are available to address both hypotheses with at least 90% power. The primary outcome of hypothesis 2 is expected to be reported in 2009. The primary outcome of hypothesis 1 is expected to be reported in 2011.The Surgical Treatment for Ischemic Heart Failure trial is a National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute-funded multicenter international randomized trial addressing 2 specific primary hypotheses: (1) coronary artery bypass grafting with intensive medical therapy improves long-term survival compared with survival with medical therapy alone, and (2) in patients with anterior left ventricular dysfunction, surgical ventricular reconstruction to a more normal left ventricular size plus coronary artery bypass grafting improves survival free of subsequent hospitalization for cardiac cause when compared with that with coronary artery bypass grafting alone.

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The palliative care in heart failure trial: rationale and design.

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The palliative care in heart failure trial: rationale and design.

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