Heart Failure

Find a physician specializing in Heart Failure and Transplant

Management of heart failure patients is becoming more and more complex as patients often present with multiple co-morbid conditions such as hypertension, coronary artery disease, diabetes, and renal insufficiency. The versatility and expertise of the UVa Heart and Vascular Center allow us to provide a number of medical and surgical approaches to manage compensated or /internet/heart/guide/images/doc-patient3.jpgdecompensated heart failure,including involved  medication and device clinical trials.  Our team continually works in tandem with the patient's physician evaluating patients to match the best therapy to each patients' case.   We can offer stable patients a "second opinion" on the appropriateness of various treatment options, novel drug and device therapies, and early transplant assessment.

Each individualized treatment plan at UVa follows a stepwise approach and includes:  

  • Identification and treatment of reversible causes of heart failure
  • Optimized medical management through patient education/lifestyle changes and medications
  • Intravenous inotropic and vasodilator therapy
  • Beta-blocker therapy
  • Myocardial viability assessment
  • Catheter-based therapy for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy
  • Implantable devices including cardiac resynchronization therapy
  • Mechanical-assist devices: Intra-aortic balloon pump (IABP) and ventricular assist devices (VADs)
  • Left ventricular assist device (LVAD) as destination therapy for end-stage heart failure
  • Surgical alternatives to transplantation, including left-ventricular remodeling, valve surgery
  • Organ transplantation

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