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An estimated 8 million people in the United States have congestive heart failure (CHF). Today, there are a variety of effective treatments for CHF. That wasn’t always the case, according to Ulrich Jorde, M.D., Professor of Medicine and Co-Director, Montefiore Nyack Hospital Congestive Heart Failure Program.
“Twenty-five years ago, if you had 100 people with symptomatic congestive heart failure, half would die within a year,” said Dr. Jorde, who is also Section Chief of Heart Failure and Cardiac Transplantation for Montefiore Health System. “Today, with modern medical therapy, the one-year survival rate is well over 90%.”
“There are a number of therapies that can help patients with congestive heart failure live longer, and even improve the heart’s function,” said Sandhya Murthy, M.D., Co-Director of the Montefiore Nyack Hospital Congestive Heart Failure program and Assistant Professor of Medicine in Advanced Heart Failure and Transplant at Montefiore Medical Center /Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, NY.
What is Congestive Heart Failure?
Heart failure is a condition where the heart is unable to pump adequate amounts of blood to the rest of the body. Symptoms can include shortness of breath, swelling of the legs, chest tightness and difficulty doing day-to-day tasks.
A person with heart failure symptoms should be seen by a cardiologist. If they are diagnosed with CHF, the cardiologist will prescribe medication. “If a person doesn’t feel better after taking the medication, they’re still short of breath or their heart is getting weaker, consultation at a heart failure specialty program should be considered,” Dr. Jorde said.
The program will conduct a comprehensive review to see which heart failure therapies might help the individual patient. These therapies include medicines, special heart failure pacemakers, and, as a last resort, also surgically implant heart pump (LVADs), and heart transplantation.
The Montefiore Nyack Advantage
Heart failure patients treated at Montefiore Nyack Hospital receive the same world-renowned care provided by the Heart Failure program at Montefiore Einstein’s main campus in New York City. Most patients can be diagnosed and treated at Montefiore Nyack. But those who are critically ill or who need a heart transplant can be treated at Montefiore Einstein.
“At Montefiore Einstein, we also offer many investigational therapies that may allow patients to keep their own heart instead of needing a heart transplant,” said Dr. Jorde, who is the lead investigator on multiple national and global clinical trials for congestive heart failure treatments.
Those patients who do need a heart transplant receive excellent care at Montefiore Einstein. “We’ve performed more than 500 heart transplants at our Center, and our outcomes rank among the best in the United States,” Dr. Jorde said.
Other Heart Services
In addition to CHF, the Montefiore Nyack program treats high-risk obstetrical patients. “We’ve been spearheading efforts to improve care for sick young women with heart disease during pregnancy,” Dr. Murthy said. The CHF program also treats heart valve disease and pulmonary hypertension. This is a condition in which high blood pressure affects arteries of the lungs and the right side of the heart.
“At Montefiore Nyack Hospital, you get one-stop shopping—comprehensive assessment, an update of currently available therapies, and if that’s not enough, access to investigational technologies you wouldn’t otherwise have access to,” Dr. Jorde said.
To schedule an appointment or to learn more about the world-renowned heart failure care offered at Montefiore Nyack, call 845-348-7500 or visit montefiorenyack.org/congestive-heart-failure.
