Description
The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute convened a workshop of experts on July 29-30, 2009 in Bethesda, Maryland to address knowledge gaps, challenges and opportunities related to the strategy that promotes nitric oxide (NO) enhancement as a treatment for heart failure. The need for new effective strategies to improve outcomes for patients with heart failure is underscored by persistently high health care utilization and costs associated with heart failure, with over 1.1 million U.S. heart failure hospitalizations in 2006 and an estimated direct and indirect cost in the U.S. of $39.2 billion in 2010. Workshop participants were charged to recommend the logical next step(s) in clinical investigation to evaluate and translate the potential role of NO enhancement in the treatment of heart failure. Workshop objectives were to:
- Review the current state of the art of fundamental science and clinical application of NO enhancement in heart failure.
- Foster dialogue to promote better understanding of putative mechanisms for the observed therapeutic effect and predictors of benefit or harm.
- Identify fundamental knowledge that is ready for translation into clinical investigations, markers, or endpoints.
- Identify research opportunities to improve clinical decision making to identify patients or conditions that may benefit from NO enhancement.
- Provide prioritized recommendations that will direct the future research agenda including the size and scope of clinical trials.
The workshop is responsive to NHLBI Strategic Plan Goals 2 & 3.