Because heart failure is a chronic disease, patient and family education is vital to improve compliance. It has been shown that careful follow-up by paramedical staff such as nurses, pharmacists and social workers can increase compliance and reduce hospitalizations. Diet should be low salt and low fat to reduce weight and total cardiac demand. It is imperative to avoid alcohol, which is a cardiac depressant. Weight should be estimated daily.
Exercise improves well-being and aids control of weight and blood pressure.
There is evidence that participating in a formal exercise program may reduce mortality. Part 2, in the next issue, reviews drug treatments. An estimated 182,800 American women will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year. After skin cancer, breast cancer is the most common cancer in women and the second leading cause of cancer deaths in women. Previous studies in women with advanced breast cancer showed that trastuzumab, a monoclonal antibody, slowed cancer cell growth and increased survival by binding to HER2.