Saepudin, Lexin Wang, Patrick A. Ball
Hyponatremia is one of the most important problems that potentially present in managing patients with heart failure (HF). It is well known significantly to contribute to morbidity, mortality, as well as to increase medical expenditure on HF patients. This problem is still rarely recognised and treated sufficiently due to lack of a diagnostic measurement and doubts about the efficacy of available treatment options. Some new drugs having ability to antagonize the vasopressin receptor, called the vaptans group, have been approved for treatment of hyponatremia including for HF patients. Nonetheless, these drugs may be cannot be used in some clinical settings. Some conventional treatment options exist and should be the treatment of choice in many situations. The main objective of this paper is to increase awareness of pharmacists toward hyponatremia, especially in HF patients, as awareness among health care professional toward this problem is still lacking. This paper will discuss some potential roles that can be played by pharmacists in managing hyponatremia through their pharmaceutical care practice. The roles include helping physicians in recognizing hyponatremia, managing medication-induced hyponatremia, optimizing medication regimen for treatment of hyponatremia and conducting further studies for better treatment of hyponatremia. Active contribution of pharmacists through these roles will be very helpful to achieve maximum therapeutic benefits and to minimize harmful adverse events in the management of hyponatremia in patients with heart failure.
