Can heat therapy help patients with heart failure?

Area of Science:

• Cardiology
• Therapeutics
• Clinical Medicine

Background:

• Heart failure (HF) is a chronic condition with significant morbidity and mortality.
• Current treatments for HF have limitations, necessitating exploration of complementary therapies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically review and analyze the clinical outcomes of thermal therapy in patients with heart failure (HF).
• To evaluate the efficacy of thermal therapy as an adjunct treatment for HF.

Main Methods:

• A systematic review and meta-analysis of studies on thermal therapy for HF.
• Searched major databases (PubMed, Ovid Medline, Embase, Scopus) up to 2019.
• Included studies reporting clinical outcomes such as NYHA class, LVEF, FMD, blood pressure, CTR, BNP, and quality of life.

Main Results:

• Significant improvement in New York Heart Association (NYHA) class.
• Increased left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) by 4.4% (16 studies, 506 patients).
• Improved endothelial function (1.7% increase in FMD), reduced blood pressure (SBP 3.1%, DBP 5.31%), decreased cardiothoracic ratio (CTR) by 5.55%, and lowered plasma brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) levels by 14.8 pg/dL.
• Reduced cardiac death and rehospitalization by 31.3% (65 patients).

Conclusions:

• Thermal therapy, involving a slight increase in core body temperature, shows promise as a noninvasive, effective complementary treatment for HF.
• Further clinical research is warranted to confirm these findings and optimize therapeutic protocols.