Grab our best-selling pharmacology coloring book!

heart failure

Heart Failure Drugs

💔 Let’s talk about HF medications 👏🏻⁠

🧠 Understanding heart failure (HF) medications can be difficult if you don’t understand the underlying pathophysiology of the condition. ⁠

🤓 Check out the slides to learn more about the pathophysiology of heart failure that leads to the common symptoms seen. ⁠

✨ Goals of therapy are to manage structural heart disease, reduce morbidity and mortality, decrease Na+ and water retention, and eliminate or minimize HF symptoms. ⁠

✨ The cornerstones of HF treatment are medications targeted towards decreasing the activity of compensatory mechanisms and improving cardiac workload, controlling excess fluid, and enhancing cardiac contractility. ⁠

⭐️ Loop diuretics: control symptoms of fluid overload (e.g., shortness of breath, edema)⁠
⭐️ ACE/ARBs/ARNIs: shown to decrease mortality; recommended in ALL pt. with HFrEF ⁠
⭐️ Beta-blockers: shown to decrease mortality when added to an ACE inhibitor; recommended in ALL patients with HFrEF⁠


👉🏻 Check out the full review of HF medications in our F-R-E-E Heart Failure Guide which includes a mind map coloring page and heart failure drug table!

Heart Failure Drugs Read More »

Beta-Blockers⁠⠀

🔝 Beta-blockers are one of the top 200 drugs prescribed as they are indicated for many different cardiovascular diseases such as hypertension, angina, atrial fibrillation/flutter, and heart failure with reduced ejection fraction. ⁠⠀
⁠⠀
⭐Generally, there are two types of beta-adrenergic receptors, beta-1 and beta-2 receptors.⁠⠀
⁠⠀
-Non-selective beta-blockers block both beta-1 (β1) and beta-2 (β2) adrenoceptors. ⁠⠀
⁠⠀
-Cardioselective beta-blockers are relatively selective for β1 adrenoceptors (remember you have 1 heart) and tend to be favored in patients with diabetes or COPD/asthma. ⁠⠀
⁠⠀
-Some beta-blockers also cause vasodilation through blockade of vascular alpha receptors making them great for use in hypertension.⁠⠀
⁠⠀
🧠 Use the mnemonic – Be (β1) selective about your MAN BABE to help you remember the beta-blockers that are cardioselective. ⁠⠀

Beta-Blockers⁠⠀ Read More »

ACE-inhibitors ⁠

 Let’s talk about ACE-inhibitors ⁠⠀
⁠⠀
💊 Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors are a class of drugs mainly used in the treatment of hypertension and heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). They are one of the top 200 drugs prescribed and because of that, they are an important class to know. ⁠⠀
⁠⠀
⭐ Drugs in this class end in the suffix ‘-pril’ such as: ⁠⠀
⁠⠀
-LisinoPRIL⁠⠀
-FosinoPRIL⁠⠀
-EnalaPRIL⁠⠀
-RamiPRIL⁠
-QuinaPRIL⁠
-BenazePRIL⁠⠀
⁠⠀
❗Do not use this medication in patients who: ⁠⠀
⁠⠀
-Have a hypersensitivity to ACE inhibitors or any of their components⁠⠀
-Pregnant or breastfeeding: box warning for patients who are or may become pregnant as it can cause fetal toxicity⁠⠀
-History of angioedema, bilateral renal stenosis, and concurrent use with aliskiren in patients with diabetes⁠⠀
⁠⠀

ACE-inhibitors ⁠ Read More »

Diuretic Classes

There are 5 main types of diuretic classes with different mechanisms of action, site of action, and side effect profiles. ⁠ ⁠ 1) Loop diuretics work on the loop of Henle (as the name implies)⁠ 2) Osmotic diuretic work on the glomerulus⁠ 3) Thiazides work on distal convoluted tubule⁠ 4) Carbonic anhydrase work on the proximal tubule⁠ 5) Potassium-sparing diuretics (aldosterone antagonists and sodium channel blockers) work on the distal convoluted tubule⁠ and collecting ducts

Diuretic Classes Read More »