Key result
Heart transplantation provides substantial, sustained quality-of-life gains despite ongoing treatment burdens and chronic complications.
Why the study?
Cognitive impairment is highly prevalent in patients with advanced heart failure and affects multiple cognitive domains critical for medical decision-making and treatment adherence.
May inform transplant counseling in advanced HF; leaves open strategies to mitigate long-term complications in survivors.
Cognitive impairment (CI) is a multifaceted entity that entails more than just memory loss. Deficits in other domains, most importantly executive function, can have profound effects on health outcomes in afflicted patients. The prevalence of CI among the heart failure population is exceedingly high, and even higher so among patients with advanced heart failure (AHF). These patients display consistent declines in memory, attention, psychomotor abilities, and executive function. Such deficits interfere with patients' abilities to recognize worsening symptoms, adhere to complex medication regimens, and make sound decisions pertaining to medical care. Regular evaluation of cognitive status using instruments such as the Montreal Cognitive Assessment is a fast, reliable method that allows physicians who treat patients with AHF to anticipate these obstacles to treatment and act accordingly. Referral for more comprehensive neuropsychological evaluation should be considered for patients with unexplained declines from baseline, legal determination of competence, and for heart transplant or ventricular assist device placement candidates.
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Gaviria et al. (2011) conducted a review in Heart transplantation. Heart transplantation vs. Pre-transplant baseline or healthy controls was evaluated on Quality of life (QoL). Heart transplantation leads to substantial and sustained improvements in quality of life across physical, psychological, and social domains, though long-term survivors face ongoing treatment-related burdens and chronic complications.
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