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DALLAS, TX — Cardiologists in Texas have identified a new symptom to look for in patients with advanced heart failure—"bendopnea," which they define as "shortness of breath when bending forward."
Nearly a third of patients with advanced heart failure who were referred to their cardiac catheterization lab had bendopnea, according to a study published February 1, 2014 in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology: Heart Failure [1].
The study showed that "patients with heart failure who have bendopnea have hemodynamic profile C—meaning that they have higher [left ventricular] filling pressure and lower cardiac index," lead author Dr Jennifer T Thibodeau (University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas) told heartwire . These are heart-failure patients who are sicker and likely require adjustment to their medications, or they might warrant further evaluation for advanced heart-failure therapy such as a ventricular assist device or a heart transplant, she noted.
"To our knowledge, this is the first new symptom of heart failure that has been identified in many years, and it finds patients who . . . have not only extra fluid but also weak hearts. This is something that patients can easily identify, and they can come to their doctor and say 'I'm having these symptoms.' " For physicians, this newly described symptom can improve the assessment of fluid status in patients with advanced heart failure.
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