Early Intervention & Multidisciplinary Care: Key to Positive Outcomes for Heart Failure Patients at Barnes-Jewish Hospital

Justin Vader, MD, a WashU Medicine cardiologist and heart failure specialist at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, often sees patients with heart failure who are so sick by the time they enter care at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, that they require extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). Fortunately, the heart failure team is often able to stabilize such patients and transition them to a platform of support with a temporary heart pump, allowing patients to rehabilitate in the intensive care unit with the goal of either recovering cardiac function, undergoing a heart transplant or another procedure that may be appropriate for the patient’s needs.