Minnesota Group Leads the Way in Heart Failure Research

Minneapolis, 18 January 2007 - In advance of National Heart Failure Awareness week, the Minnesota Heart Failure Consortium (MHFC) is pleased to announce that it has been awarded a prestigious grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).  With this grant, the MHFC will collaborate with other research organizations to conduct large-scale clinical trials on new treatment methods for chronic and acute heart failure.  The goal of this collaboration is to expedite the process of bringing new therapeutic strategies to practice; allowing physicians to save more lives and improve their patients’ quality of life.  The MHFC is among a select few organizations in the nation that will participate in this heart failure research collaboration.

Heart failure is an immense and growing medical problem in the United States.  It affects nearly five million people with approximately 500,000 new cases diagnosed each year.  It is a progressive condition in which the heart has been damaged by disease or injury and cannot pump enough blood and oxygen to meet the body's needs.  Health care costs associated with heart failure are estimated to be as high as $23 billion annually.

Many innovative strategies to improve myocardial function in heart failure patients have emerged in the past few years.  However, many of these advances have not reached patients because large clinical trials have not been conducted to verify their effectiveness.  Funding from the NIH will be used in this study to perform the clinical research necessary to bring these innovations in cardiac care to practice.

Dr. Steven Goldsmith, Cardiologist at Hennepin County Medical Center and Director of the Minnesota Heart Failure Consortium, is the lead MHFC investigator for this program. His group will work closely with the NIH and other research collaborators to determine what aspects of heart failure should be studied.  The MHFC will then carry out investigations in several different areas of cardiac care.  The research collaboration will continue for up to five years. 

About the Minnesota Heart Failure Consortium
The Minnesota Heart Failure Consortium (MHFC) is a special program of the Minneapolis Medical Research Foundation, the medical research foundation at Hennepin County Medical Center.  The health care professionals of the Minnesota Heart Failure Consortium (MHFC) are dedicated to furthering research and education concerning the problem of heart failure. MHFC facilitates cooperative educational and investigative efforts among individual medical groups and institutions involved with the care of patients with chronic heart failure. Current consortium members include: Cardiovascular Consultants LTD, Central Minnesota Heart Center, Hennepin County Medical Center, Mayo Medical Center, Metropolitan Cardiology Consultants, Minneapolis Heart Institute, Minnesota Heart Clinic, Park Nicollet, Regions Medical Center, St. Mary’s / Duluth Health Clinic System, St. Paul Heart Clinic, University of Minnesota, VA Medical Center.

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