TY - JOUR
T1 - Intrathoracic Impedance Monitoring, Audible Patient Alerts, and Outcome in Patients With Heart Failure
AU - van Veldhuisen, Dirk J.
AU - Braunschweig, Frieder
AU - Conraads, Viviane M.
AU - Ford, Ian
AU - Cowie, Martin R.
AU - Jondeau, Guillaume
AU - Kautzner, Josef
AU - Munoz Aguilera, Roberto
AU - Lunati, Maurizio
AU - Yu, Cheuk Man
AU - Gerritse, Bart
AU - Borggrefe, Martin
PY - 2011/10/18
Y1 - 2011/10/18
N2 - Heart failure is associated with frequent hospitalizations, often resulting from volume overload. Measurement of intrathoracic impedance with an implanted device with an audible patient alert may detect increases in pulmonary fluid retention early. We hypothesized that early intervention could prevent hospitalizations and affect outcome.We studied 335 patients with chronic heart failure who had undergone implantation of an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator alone (18%) or with cardiac resynchronization therapy (82%). All devices featured a monitoring tool to track changes in intrathoracic impedance (OptiVol) and other diagnostic parameters. Patients were randomized to have information available to physicians and patients as an audible alert in case of preset threshold crossings (access arm) or not (control arm). The primary end point was a composite of all-cause mortality and heart failure hospitalizations. During 14.9?5.4 months, this occurred in 48 patients (29%) in the access arm and in 33 patients (20%) in the control arm (P=0.063; hazard ratio, 1.52; 95% confidence interval, 0.97-2.37). This was due mainly to more heart failure hospitalizations (hazard ratio, 1.79; 95% confidence interval, 1.08-2.95; P=0.022), whereas the number of deaths was comparable (19 versus 15; P=0.54). The number of outpatient visits was higher in the access arm (250 versus 84; P
AB - Heart failure is associated with frequent hospitalizations, often resulting from volume overload. Measurement of intrathoracic impedance with an implanted device with an audible patient alert may detect increases in pulmonary fluid retention early. We hypothesized that early intervention could prevent hospitalizations and affect outcome.We studied 335 patients with chronic heart failure who had undergone implantation of an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator alone (18%) or with cardiac resynchronization therapy (82%). All devices featured a monitoring tool to track changes in intrathoracic impedance (OptiVol) and other diagnostic parameters. Patients were randomized to have information available to physicians and patients as an audible alert in case of preset threshold crossings (access arm) or not (control arm). The primary end point was a composite of all-cause mortality and heart failure hospitalizations. During 14.9?5.4 months, this occurred in 48 patients (29%) in the access arm and in 33 patients (20%) in the control arm (P=0.063; hazard ratio, 1.52; 95% confidence interval, 0.97-2.37). This was due mainly to more heart failure hospitalizations (hazard ratio, 1.79; 95% confidence interval, 1.08-2.95; P=0.022), whereas the number of deaths was comparable (19 versus 15; P=0.54). The number of outpatient visits was higher in the access arm (250 versus 84; P
KW - cardiography, impedance
KW - devices
KW - heart failure
KW - outcome assessment
KW - randomized controlled trial
U2 - 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.111.043042
DO - 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.111.043042
M3 - Article
C2 - 21931078
SN - 0009-7322
VL - 124
SP - 1719-U82
JO - Circulation
JF - Circulation
IS - 16
ER -