Sacubitril/valsartan treatment improved the clinical outcome and reduced the hospitalization rate in three patients with chronic heart failure: a case series

Abstract

Sacubitril/valsartan was shown to be effective in improving the clinical outcome and reducing hospitalization rate and mortality in patients with heart failure (HF) and reduced left ventricular ejection fraction (HFrEF). Here we report a case series of three patients with HFrEF associated with mitral insufficiency (case #1), dilated cardiomyopathy (case #2) and chronic ischaemia (case #3). The first case was a 49 year old male and the further two were 70 year old male patients. After previous ineffective treatment, the administration of sacubitril/valsartan led to a rapid and marked improvement of the clinical conditions in all three cases. Moreover, in two patients, angiotensin receptor–neprilysin inhibitor (ARNI) therapy avoided a surgical intervention for the insertion of an implantable cardioverter defibrillator. In the third patient, sacubitril/valsartan interrupted a long series of hospitalizations for acute HF. Based on our experience, we conclude that treatment with ARNI allows better treatment optimization with a positive impact on the control of HF and related comorbidities.

Keywords:

• Heart failure
• sacubitril/valsartan
• dilated cardiomyopathy
• mitral insufficiency
• chronic ischaemia

Transparency

Declaration of funding

This manuscript forms part of a supplement that was funded by Novartis Farma (Origgio, Italy).

Declaration of financial/other relationships

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors. CMRO peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.

Acknowledgements

Editorial assistance was provided by Luisa Granziero PhD and Luca Giacomelli PhD on behalf of Content Ed Net (Rome, Italy). This assistance was supported by Novartis Farma (Origgio, Italy).