Advanced Heart Failure Program

Patients with advanced heart issues deserve patient-centered, personalized care like that delivered by a top Cincinnati heart hospital. TriHealth’s Advanced Heart Failure program, located in the Harold and Eugenia Thomas Comprehensive Care Center on the campus of Bethesda North Hospital, is a recognized a leader in quality and outcomes. The multidisciplinary team experienced in heart conditions brings together all the caregivers and treatments necessary to provide the best, personalized options for a patient’s quality and longevity of life.

TriHealth’s multidisciplinary team includes:

• Decongestive Clinic – coordination of care by a nurse navigator
• Pulmonary Hypertension Clinic – with a specialized hypertension physician
• Primary cardiologist
• Primary Care Physician
• Cardio oncology specialists
• Physical therapists
• Patient education specialists
• Infusion center
• Pharmacists
• Home health aids
• Dietician

Heart failure is a condition in which the heart is not able to pump blood effectively to support the needs of the body. In advanced heart failure, the late stage of heart failure, standard therapies are no longer effective.  

Advanced Heart Failure Treatments

The variety of treatments utilized by our medical professionals to help patients as they reach the advanced heart failure stage include medications, implanted devices, as well as surgical options.

Devices

Devices that may be used to aid in myocardial recovery (heart recovery) include:

• Cardioverter defibrillators - implanted internally or worn externally.
• Cardioversion or cardiac resynchronization therapy
• Left ventricular assist device (LVAD) - An internal pump placed in the left ventricle to pump blood to the rest of the body to aid in myocardial recovery or support the heart prior to heart transplant.
• CardioMEMS

Surgical options

Myocardial recovery (heart recovery) surgical options include:

• Angiogram- (Right heart catheterization) 
• Bypass surgery

TriHealth Heart Institute’s Experts in LVAD

Bringing the highest level of expertise to the TriHealth Heart Failure program are:
Kathryn O’Keefe MD, Surgical Director of the Mechanical Circulatory Support and LVAD Program (who completed training on LVAD implantation at the Cleveland Clinic)
Sateesh Kesari MD, Advanced Heart Failure and Transplant Cardiologist and Medical Director of the LVAD program.