Online Educational Content

Managing Acute Heart Failure in the ED – Case Studies from the Acute Heart Failure Academy

In 2013, an expert group of international leaders in emergency medicine and acute heart failure (AHF) convened to establish the AHF Academy. The Academy’s goal is to improve patient outcomes through the provision of high quality, tailored and balanced education to increase the understanding of AHF in the emergency setting. As each of the Academy members highly values direct patient care, our initial efforts led to the creation of case studies.

These case studies are intended for non-promotional, illustrative and training purposes only and are accurate at the time of release. They should not replace clinical judgement. The cases may include information on investigational uses of compounds/drugs that have not been approved by regulatory authorities. As laboratory test results vary depending on local practice, assay type and test manufacturer, please refer to the standard reference ranges provided. Furthermore, abnormal results are highlighted in bold text with additional information on specific test results provided in the footnotes.

Each outstanding case has been created solely by an individual Academy member. Additional members of the AHF Academy then peer-reviewed each case to ensure accuracy and completeness. Novartis Pharma AG supported the AHF Academy meetings and editorial assistance which was provided by CircleScience (an Ashfield Company, part of UDG Healthcare plc).

We believe these cases will improve the early management of AHF in the emergency care setting.

PLEASE NOTE: THE CASES ARE IN A POWERPOINT SLIDE SHOW FORMAT AND ARE INTERACTIVE. NO AMENDMENTS TO THE DOCUMENTS ARE PERMITTED.

Batch 1 (released Nov 2015):

Download introduction

Download case 1 (Philip Levy) (updated 14 Jan 2016)

Download case 2 (Philip Levy)

Download Case 3 (Martin Möckel)

Download Case 4 (Martin Möckel)

Download Case 5 (Peter S. Pang)

Download Case 6 (Peter S. Pang)

Batch 2 (released April 2016)

Download case 7 (Héctor Bueno) – Advanced heart failure patients with low blood pressure (systolic blood pressure 80mmHg)

Download case 8 (Sean Collins) – Normotensive acute heart failure

Download case 9 (Salvatore Di Somma) – Flash pulmonary edema with high blood pressure

Download case 10 (Deborah Diercks) – Acute heart failure with troponin release (but not acute coronary syndrome)

Download case 11 (Veli-Pekka Harjola) – Atrial fibrillation with de-novo acute heart failure

Download case 12 (Judd Hollander) – Acute heart failure caused by acute coronary syndrome (non-ST segment elevation myocardial infarction)

Download case 13 (Ekaterini Lambrinou) – Decompensated heart failure

Download case 14 (Òscar Miró) – Acute heart failure with worsening renal function identified at presentation

Batch 3 (released May 2016) 

Download case 15 (Salvatore Di Somma) Atrial fibrillation complicating and precipitating acute heart failure in patients with chronic heart failure

Download case 16 (Deborah Diercks)  Dilated Cardiomyopathy and acute systolic chronic heart failure exacerbation with methamphetamine intoxication

Download case 17 (Alasdair Gray) Acute heart failure with low blood pressure (< 90mmHg)- known chronic heart failure patient with advanced heart failure and known low ejection fraction

Download case 18 (Veli-Pekka Harjola) Atrial fibrillation with RVR de novo acute heart failure

Download case 19 (Ekaterini Lambrinou) De novo acute heart failure

Download case 20 (Oscar Miro) Acute heart failure triggered by anaemia

Our warmest regards,

Martin Möckel (MD, PhD, FESC, FAHA) and Peter S. Pang (MD, MSc, FACEP, FAAEM, FAHA, FACC)

Acute Heart Failure Academy

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