“All my life I have focused my research on the treatment of heart
failure. This is not a disease people necessarily understand; it’s a
chronic, progressive condition that has been a very serious illness for
a long time. When I first got involved in 1976, the one-year
mortality was running between 30-40 percent. Now, it’s down to
about 5 percent.”
– Dr. Milton Packer
Tell us a little about the focus of your research.
All my life I have focused my research on the
treatment of heart failure. This is not a disease people necessarily understand; it’s a chronic, progressive condition that has been a very serious illness
for a long time. When I first got involved in 1976,
the one-year mortality was running between
30–40 percent. Now, it’s down to about 5 percent.
We have a better understanding of the disease and
the deployment of new drugs focused on correcting the abnormalities. For a long time, physicians
assumed that if you have heart failure, the problem must be in the heart. Treatments focused on
making the heart stronger and they didn’t work.
The research I helped to lead was the understanding that the heart had to live in a body and circulatory system. In heart failure patients, the internal balances between these systems were
thoroughly disturbed. As we normalized these
imbalances, the disease ceased to progress and
mortality decreased markedly. Most treatments
now rebalance the circulation and reduce the stress
on the heart, allowing the heart to heal itself. The
concept of a neuro-hormonal imbalance was first
proposed in 1992. We have been working on that
theory for many decades, and after many large
clinical trials, have clearly established this concept
as an important reason for heart failure. It’s been
a terrific experience.
What is the highlight of your career?
Training other cardiologists. I had the privilege
of spending years working together and teaching
many young fellows and faculty how to think
about a problem. Over time, you learn how each
other thinks, and that’s an enormously personal
bond that’s inseparable. These colleagues are like
my professional children. They’ve taken my efforts
and teachings and multiplied them. They are now
the recognized leaders in the field – it’s just
delightful.
For more information about Baylor’s heart and vascular initiatives, contact Melissa Dalton at 214.820.2705 or
[email protected].
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