Sacubitril/Valsartan in "Field Practice" Patients with Advanced Heart Failure: A Monocentric Italian Experience

Patients with advanced heart failure (HF) experience a continuous decline in quality of life and have a very poor prognosis. Moreover, due to numerous comorbidities present in these patients, transplantation and left ventricular assist devices are usually impracticable in clinical practice. In this challenging setting, administration of inotropic agents may be the only possible therapy; however, this treatment requires frequent hospitalizations. Our hypothesis is that sacubitril/valsartan, given its marked efficacy and manageability, can be safely used in clinical practice in this setting, potentially reducing hospitalizations and the need for inotropic support. We report here our experience in a small series of patients with advanced HF treated with sacubitril/valsartan. (C) 2017 S. Karger AG, Basel