Use of ReDS Technology in Patients With Acute Heart Failure

Official title

Remote Dielectric Sensing (ReDS) for a SAFE Discharge in Patients With Acutely Decompensated Heart Failure: The ReDS-SAFE HF Study

Overview

Background: Fluid overload, especially pulmonary congestion, is one of the main contributors into heart failure (HF) readmission risk and it is a clinical challenge for clinicians. The Remote dielectric sensing (ReDS) system is a novel electromagnetic energy-based technology that can accurately quantify changes in lung fluid concentration noninvasively. Previous non-randomized studies suggest that ReDS-guided management has the potential to reduce readmissions in HF patients recently discharged from the hospital. Aims: To test whether a ReDS-guided strategy during HF admission is superior to the standard of care during a 1-month follow up. Methods: The ReDS-SAFE HF trial is an investigator-initiated, single center, single blind, 2-arm randomized clinical trial, in which \~240 inpatients with acutely decompensated HF at Mount Sinai Hospital will be randomized to a) standard of care strategy, with a discharge scheme based on current clinical practice, or b) ReDS-guided strategy, with a discharge scheme based on specific target value given by the device on top of the current clinical practice. ReDS tests will be performed for all study patients, but results will be blinded for treating physicians in the "standard of care" arm. The primary outcome will be a composite of unplanned visit for HF that lead to the use of intravenous diuretics, hospitalization for worsening HF, or death from any cause at 30 days after discharge. Secondary outcomes including the components of the primary outcome alone, length of stay, quality of life, time-averaged proportional change in the natriuretic peptides plasma levels, and safety events as symptomatic hypotension, diselectrolytemias or worsening of renal function. Conclusions: The ReDS-SAFE HF trial will help to clarify the efficacy of a ReDS-guided strategy during HF-admission to improve the short-term prognosis of patients after a HF admission.

Detailed description

Heart failure (HF) is an increasing epidemic and a major public health priority, affecting more than 6 million patients in the United States of America (1). Specially, acutely decompensated HF (ADHF) is the most common cause of hospitalization in adults older than 65 years, and is associated with high rates of morbidity and mortality. Despite advances in pharmacological treatment and early follow-up programs in HF patients, readmission rates remain unacceptably high (2).

Fluid overload is a key feature in the pathophysiology of ADHF and residual congestion at the time of hospital discharge is one of the main contributors into readmission risk (3-5). Typically, fluid overload has been assessed through symptoms and signs, as well as other tools such as chest X-ray, plasma biomarkers, and echocardiography (6). However, these methods are subject to significant inter-observer variability and can be unreliable for various reasons. Furthermore, recent studies have shown that overt signs of clinical congestion correlate poorly with hemodynamic congestion assessed by invasive means. In recent years, invasive hemodynamic measurements to inform medical management of congestion facilitated by implantable pulmonary artery pressure sensors have been shown to reduce HF readmissions (7). Unfortunately, due to its invasive nature as well as reimbursement and insurance coverage issues, its widespread adoption has been limited.

Thus, the use of a non-invasive assessment of volume status to guide HF management and identify a state of "euvolemia" is an attractive tool, particularly during admission and early phase after discharge, which is a vulnerable period for recurrent congestion (8). The Remote dielectric sensing (ReDS) system is a novel electromagnetic energy-based technology that can accurately quantify changes in lung fluid concentration noninvasively (9). Though limited experience from non-randomized studies suggest that ReDS-guided management has the potential to reduce readmissions in ADHF patients recently discharged from the hospital (10, 11), nevertheless data to substantiate the employment of such as strategy is lacking. The study team hypothesizes that a ReDS-guided strategy to measure the percent of lung water volume as a surrogate of congestion during HF hospitalization will help to determine the appropriate timing of discharge and will accordingly be associated with a better short-term prognosis.

Interventions

• Device ReDS-guided strategy
  A discharge scheme based on specific target value given by the device

Primary outcome measures

• Composite outcome [Time frame: 30 days after discharge]

Secondary outcome measures (11)

• Number of unplanned visits [Time frame: 30 days after discharge]
• Number of unplanned hospitalizations [Time frame: 30 days after discharge]
• Length of stay [Time frame: average of 7 days]
• Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire (KCCQ) [Time frame: 7 days after discharge]
• New York Heart Association functional class [Time frame: 7 days after discharge]
• Orthodema Scale [Time frame: 7 days after discharge]
• Breathlessness Visual Analog Scale [Time frame: 7 days after discharge]
• Change in NT-proBNP/BNP plasma levels [Time frame: baseline and 7 days after discharge]
• Serum Potassium [Time frame: 7 days after discharge]
• Change in Creatinine level [Time frame: baseline and 7 days after discharge]
• Systolic arterial pressure [Time frame: 7 days after discharge]

Eligibility criteria

Inclusion criteria

• Age ≥ 18 years old
• Currently hospitalized for a primary diagnosis of HF, including symptoms and signs of fluid overload, regardless of left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), and a NT-proBNP concentration of ≥ 400 pg/L or a BNP concentration of ≥ 100 pg/L

Exclusion criteria

• Patient characteristics excluded from approved use of ReDS system: height <155cm or >190cm, BMI <22 or >39
• Patients discharged on inotropes, or with a left ventricular assist device or cardiac transplantation
• Congenital heart malformations or intra-thoracic mass that would affect right-lung anatomy
• End stage renal disease on hemodialysis
• Life expectancy <12 months due to non-cardiac comorbidities
• Participating in another randomized study

Criteria are shown verbatim from the registry (in English). Final eligibility is always assessed by the study center.

Healthy volunteers: No

Study design

Allocation

Randomized

Model

Parallel assignment

Masking

Double blind

Primary purpose

Treatment

Study locations

United States · 1 center

• Mount Sinai Hospital — New York

Publications

• Benjamin EJ, Muntner P, Alonso A, Bittencourt MS, Callaway CW, Carson AP, Chamberlain AM, Chang AR, Cheng S, Das SR, Delling FN, Djousse L, Elkind MSV, Ferguson JF, Fornage M, Jordan LC, Khan SS, Kissela BM, Knutson KL, Kwan TW, Lackland DT, Lewis TT, Lichtman JH, Longenecker CT, Loop MS, Lutsey PL, Martin SS, Matsushita K, Moran AE, Mussolino ME, O'Flaherty M, Pandey A, Perak AM, Rosamond WD, Rot PMID 30700139
• Kociol RD, McNulty SE, Hernandez AF, Lee KL, Redfield MM, Tracy RP, Braunwald E, O'Connor CM, Felker GM; NHLBI Heart Failure Network Steering Committee and Investigators. Markers of decongestion, dyspnea relief, and clinical outcomes among patients hospitalized with acute heart failure. Circ Heart Fail. 2013 Mar;6(2):240-5. doi: 10.1161/CIRCHEARTFAILURE.112.969246. Epub 2012 Dec 18. PMID 23250981
• Gheorghiade M, Follath F, Ponikowski P, Barsuk JH, Blair JE, Cleland JG, Dickstein K, Drazner MH, Fonarow GC, Jaarsma T, Jondeau G, Sendon JL, Mebazaa A, Metra M, Nieminen M, Pang PS, Seferovic P, Stevenson LW, van Veldhuisen DJ, Zannad F, Anker SD, Rhodes A, McMurray JJ, Filippatos G; European Society of Cardiology; European Society of Intensive Care Medicine. Assessing and grading congestion in PMID 20354029
• Amir O, Rappaport D, Zafrir B, Abraham WT. A novel approach to monitoring pulmonary congestion in heart failure: initial animal and clinical experiences using remote dielectric sensing technology. Congest Heart Fail. 2013 May-Jun;19(3):149-55. doi: 10.1111/chf.12021. Epub 2013 Jan 25. PMID 23350643
• Gargani L, Pang PS, Frassi F, Miglioranza MH, Dini FL, Landi P, Picano E. Persistent pulmonary congestion before discharge predicts rehospitalization in heart failure: a lung ultrasound study. Cardiovasc Ultrasound. 2015 Sep 4;13:40. doi: 10.1186/s12947-015-0033-4. PMID 26337295
• Abraham WT, Adamson PB, Bourge RC, Aaron MF, Costanzo MR, Stevenson LW, Strickland W, Neelagaru S, Raval N, Krueger S, Weiner S, Shavelle D, Jeffries B, Yadav JS; CHAMPION Trial Study Group. Wireless pulmonary artery haemodynamic monitoring in chronic heart failure: a randomised controlled trial. Lancet. 2011 Feb 19;377(9766):658-66. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(11)60101-3. PMID 21315441
• Amir O, Ben-Gal T, Weinstein JM, Schliamser J, Burkhoff D, Abbo A, Abraham WT. Evaluation of remote dielectric sensing (ReDS) technology-guided therapy for decreasing heart failure re-hospitalizations. Int J Cardiol. 2017 Aug 1;240:279-284. doi: 10.1016/j.ijcard.2017.02.120. Epub 2017 Mar 3. PMID 28341372
• Goldgrab D, Balakumaran K, Kim MJ, Tabtabai SR. Updates in heart failure 30-day readmission prevention. Heart Fail Rev. 2019 Mar;24(2):177-187. doi: 10.1007/s10741-018-9754-4. PMID 30488242

Identifiers

NCT: NCT04305717 · GCO 19-2678

Primary sources (government registries)

• ClinicalTrials.gov (US NIH)

View this study on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗