iHF at EuroPCR 2025 - Improving heart function – with a transdisciplinary educational approach

More than 10 sessions at EuroPCR 2025 are centred on heart failure, with three of these sessions held in collaboration with a new initiative, iHF (Improving Heart Function). But why the focus on heart failure? And why the need for iHF? Here members of the iHF Steering Committee explain that a shift in approach is required to improve heart failure education and management. 

“Heart failure, by its very nature, defies the siloed mentality that underpins contemporary, super-specialised healthcare systems,” says Emanuele Barbato. “Very often, heart failure is undiagnosed and, therefore, undertreated, depriving patients of the optimal care they deserve.” He notes that up to 70% of heart failure patients are treated either before or after hospitalisation by non-cardiologists, who often miss out on the continuous medical education provided in cardiology meetings.

iHF is an innovative educational project dedicated to promoting comprehensive care for heart failure patients across all specialties. “Just as the Heart Team has a transdisciplinary approach in daily practice, we believe that heart failure education should be developed and delivered by experts from different areas who work hand in hand to educate all stakeholders participating in heart failure care – not only cardiologists, interventional cardiologists and cardiac surgeons, but also emergency physicians, anaesthetists, primary care practitioners, etc,” notes Alexandre Mebazaa. But the focus of iHF is on the patient, with all efforts directed at addressing unmet needs, ranging from inadequate patient selection for standard-of-care therapies to poor adherence to guideline recommendations.

"iHF is about sharing experiences among peers, learning from one another, discussing patient-centred clinical unmet needs, and finding practical, relevant solutions."

A session yesterday, in collaboration with iHF, perfectly illustrated the benefits of a transdisciplinary approach and how an understanding of the optimal interactions between oral therapy and devices is needed, particularly for certain difficult-to-treat patient groups. “As an example,” explains Professor Mebazaa, “we know that some patients cannot tolerate all four pillars of guideline-directed oral heart failure therapy at the recommended maximum doses. We need to consider the cause of intolerance and take advantage of the interplay between devices and drugs, where appropriate.” He notes that in eligible patients who receive cardiac resynchronisation therapy (CRT), it is sometimes possible to increase drug doses after CRT, when the patient was intolerant before. Similarly, transcatheter mitral valve repair in patients with mitral regurgitation can then allow drug doses to be increased.

Following on from this, an upcoming iHF joint session describes innovative approaches to refractory heart failure. “The term ‘refractory’ is not always used correctly,” notes Professor Mebazaa. “What we are trying to convey in tomorrow’s session is that just because one modality has not worked well, the patient should not be labelled as ‘refractory’. We will help participants to recognise truly refractory heart failure and, using cases that actually happen fairly frequently, illustrate how to extract patients from this refractory category by maximising the synergy between oral therapy and interventions.”  

For those who are keen to learn more after the heart failure sessions at EuroPCR, the iHF website brings together webinars, congress news and journal insights. And a new annual educational event – the only transdisciplinary course on heart failure management – is planned for March 2026. “The programme will be based on a patient-centred, integrated approach, including cutting-edge interventions and their applications, to bridge knowledge gaps for optimal heart failure care,” concludes Professor Barbato.