Current Cardiology Reports

, 18:121 | Cite as

Turning Failure into Success: Trials of the Heart Failure Clinical Research Network

Heart Failure (MR Mehra and E Joyce, Section Editor)
First Online:
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Part of the following topical collections:
  1. Topical Collection on Heart Failure

Abstract

The Heart Failure Clinical Research Network (HFN) was established in 2008 on behalf of the NIH National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, with the primary goal of improving outcomes in heart failure (HF) by designing and conducting high-quality concurrent clinical trials testing interventions across the spectrum of HF. Completed HFN trials have answered several important and relevant clinical questions concerning the safety and efficacy of different decongestive and adjunctive vasodilator therapies in hospitalized acute HF, phosphodiesterase-5 inhibition and nitrate therapies in HF with preserved ejection fraction, and the role of xanthine oxidase inhibition in hyperuricemic HF. These successes, independent of the “positive” or “negative” result of each individual trial, have helped to shape the current clinical care of HF patients and serve as a platform to inform future research directions and trial designs.

Keywords

Heart failure Clinical research Clinical trials 
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Notes

Compliance with Ethical Standards

Conflict of Interest

Emer Joyce and Michael M. Givertz declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

References

Papers of particular interest, published recently, have been highlighted as: • Of importance •• Of major importance

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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media New York 2016

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Section of Heart Failure and Cardiac Transplant Medicine, Sydell and Arnold Miller Family Heart and Vascular Institute, Cleveland Clinic FoundationClevelandUSA
  2. 2.Cardiovascular Division, Brigham and Women’s HospitalBostonUSA

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