With risk of co-morbities like myocardial infarction in cardio pulmonary exercise test for prognosis of heart failure patients, Global CBF may be safe and useful in the selection of heart transplantation patients.

Team@CMHF

Cerebral blood flow (CBF) may be associated with the development of long-term cardiovascular outcomes in systolic heart failure (HF) patients.

Global CBF may be useful for determining the prognosis of systolic HF patients and in the selection of heart transplantation patients.

Currently, the best predictor of survival in HF patients is peak oxygen consumption rate (VO2), which is measured using a cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET). However, many physicians are reluctant to use this method due to patient comorbidities. CPET is also thought to increase the risk for myocardial infarction.

To investigate whether global CBF levels could be used prognostically in HF, Kim and team conducted a prospective observational study.

Multivariate analysis revealed that global CBF, minute ventilation/carbon dioxide production (VE/VCO2) slope, levels of serum sodium, and serum creatinine were associated with cardiac death or urgent heart transplantation.

The findings suggest that global CBF data may assist in identifying advanced systolic HF patients who require urgent transplantation.

Reference: http://www.incirculation.net/NewsItem/Global-cerebral-blood-flow-linked-to-cardiovascula.aspx