What does it mean?

[BSA20]

Following an Echo scan I have been diagnosed with a heart failure quad score of 6/24. I asked my Cardiac Rehab nurse what that meant and she couldn't explain it. Does anybody know? If it is terrible news I would rather not know, thank you.

Janet

[BSA20]

The annoying thing is, I had an appointment with my Cardiologist last Tuesday and he didn't mention it. The next day in the post I received a letter from him dated the 30 June which had obviously got delayed in the post detailing the results of the Echo scan. The post in my area is awful with things getting lost or delayed all the time. If I had received the results on time I could have taken the letter with me to the appointment, I have a telephone appointment with my GP tomorrow afternoon and I shall try to contact the Cardiologist's secretary but she works part time. Thank you for replying.

[Qualipop]

I've never heard of quad score. Heart failure is usually given an ejection fraction. Have yo tried phoning the BHF nurses? The number is on the main BHF page. They are really helpful. Please don't think that heart failure means your heart is going to pack up. It's a horrible term. It just means it isn't working as well as it should but medication can make a huge difference. My mum was diagnosed with heart failure when pregnant with me at age 23. In those days there was no treatment at all. She lived to be 69 and apart from not ever having a general anaesthetic, no one ever treated her and it made no difference to her lifestyle.e

[BSA20 in reply to Qualipop]

Contacted a BHF nurse today and a Clinic nurse and neither of them could explain it. My ef is 38% and bpm 50.

[Qualipop in reply to BSA20]

I'd never heard of it. Your EF isn't at all bad. Remember the maximum EF isn't 100; it's more around 50

[Alison_L]

Hi Janet. As Qualipop says, heart failure (useless term that basically means the heart isn't working absolutely perfectly) and echo results are normally measured by Ejection Fraction. Is there any mention of that (or EF) in the letter? The fact that the cardiologist didn't mention it last week suggests he's not too worried about it, ie that 6/24 is a low score, whereas 23/24 would be bad (this is a pure guess on my part and not based on any medical knowledge). Your GP should have these results and will be able to give you a better interpretation.

[BSA20]

The BHF nurse nor the Clinic nurse had heard of the measurement before. Have a telephone appointment with my GP later today.

[Alison_L in reply to BSA20]

I could only find one reference to it on google, which I couldn't read without signing up to something!

[BSA20]

Spoke to my GP this afternoon and she had never heard of it. She tried to look it up and drew a blank. I will just have to wait for the Cardiologist to return from annual leave. I then told my GP he had put my name forward for an iron infusion as my iron level was 6. She was none to pleased and said you don't need it as you are not anaemic, just a bit low on iron. Then I find out that the Cardiology Clinic had made a mistake by prescribing something that was dangerous for me as I suffer with water infections,

[Hidden]

Hi, I wont pretend I'd ever heard of Quad Score. Its not something my Cardiologist and HF Team have ever mentioned.

If the image attached is correct it appears to be a form that's used in the management of medications for Heart Failure, basically a Theraputic Score. It seems that the the more meds and dosage, the higher the score, the better it is. Not sure where it would fit in with an Echo result. This is an extract from a report in the British Medical Journal.

It does beg the question that if it's used, why, medics such as Heart Nurses and GPs dont know about it.

Quad Score

[BSA20]

Thank you for finding the information. My GP had never heard of it and couldn't find any information on it. The BHF nurse had not heard of it. The Cardiology Clinic nurse said it sounded like a percentage chance of another heart attack, meaning in my case 6/24 was good. But by your reckoning my score is not so good. The BHF nurse said the meds I had been prescribed were old and there were newer and better drugs available but the Cardiology Clinic nurse was not amused when I told her that and said they were following national guide lines. Then I found out one of the blood pressure pills they had prescribed which sent my BP and bpm plummeting and I was told to let them know if I fell over, should not have prescribed to me in the first place because I suffer from uti's. The Cardiologist put my name down for an iron infusion because my score was 6 but my GP said I don't need it as I am not aneamic just a bit low in iron and it might be okay now. I really am beginning to wonder if any one knows what they are doing and it is certainly not doing much for my stress levels at the moment. Once again, thank you for the information.

[Hidden]

my husband has heart failure, he received an iron infusion last year as part of his treatment- his iron levels didn’t show anaemia within GP scale of testing but it’s a new treatment some cardiologists are using. It took about 6 weeks before he started to feel some improvement. They test his levels every 6 months and will repeat the iron infusion if needed.