Showing papers by "Sean Pinney published in 2021"

Early use of remote dielectric sensing after hospitalization to reduce heart failure readmissions.

Abstract: Aims Readmission after hospitalization for acute decompensated heart failure (HF) remains a major public health problem. Use of remote dielectric sensing (ReDS) to measure lung water volume allows for an objective assessment of volume status and may guide medical optimization for HF. We hypothesized that the use of ReDS would lower 30 day readmission in patients referred to rapid follow-up (RFU) clinic after HF discharge. Methods and results We conducted a retrospective analysis of the use of ReDS for patients scheduled for RFU within 10 days post-discharge for HF at Mount Sinai Hospital between 1 July 2017 and 31 July 2018. Diuretics were adjusted using a pre-specified algorithm. The association between use of ReDS and 30 day readmission was evaluated. A total of 220 patients were included. Mean age was 62.9 ± 14.7 years, and 36.4% were female. ReDS was performed in 80 (36.4%) and led to medication adjustment in 52 (65%). Use of ReDS was associated with a lower rate of 30 day cardiovascular readmission [2.6% vs. 11.8%, hazard ratio (HR): 0.21; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.05-0.89; P = 0.04] and a trend towards lower all-cause readmission (6.5% vs. 14.1%, HR: 0.43; 95% CI: 0.16-1.15; P = 0.09) as compared with patients without a ReDS assessment. Conclusions ReDS-guided HF therapy during RFU after HF hospitalization may be associated with lower risk of 30 day readmission.

Patient monitoring across the spectrum of heart failure disease management 10 years after the CHAMPION trial

Abstract: Despite significant advances in drug-based and device-based therapies, heart failure remains a major and growing public health problem associated with substantial disability, frequent hospitalizations, and high economic costs. Keeping patients well and out of the hospital has become a major focus of heart failure disease management. Achieving and maintaining such stability in heart failure patients requires a holistic approach, which includes at least the management of the underlying heart disease, the management of comorbidities and the social and psychological aspects of the disease, and the management of haemodynamic/fluid status. In this regard, accurate assessment of elevated ventricular filling pressures or volume overload, that is, haemodynamic or pulmonary congestion, respectively, before the onset of worsening heart failure symptoms represents an important management strategy. Unfortunately, conventional methods for assessing congestion, such as physical examination and monitoring of symptoms and daily weights, are insensitive markers of worsening heart failure. Assessment tools that directly measure congestion, accurately and in absolute terms, provide more actionable information that enables the application of treatment algorithms designed to restore patient stability, in a variety of clinical settings. Two such assessment tools, implantable haemodynamic monitors and remote dielectric sensing (ReDS), meet the prerequisites for useful heart failure management tools, by providing accurate, absolute, and actionable measures of congestion, to guide patient management. This review focuses on the use of such technologies, across the spectrum of heart failure treatment settings. Clinical data are presented that support the broad use of pulmonary artery pressure-guided and/or ReDS-guided heart failure management in heart failure patients with reduced and preserved left ventricular ejection fraction.

Aortic pulsatility index predicts clinical outcomes in heart failure: a sub-analysis of the ESCAPE trial.

Abstract: AIMS Aortic pulsatility index (API), calculated as (systolic-diastolic blood pressure)/pulmonary capillary wedge pressure (PCWP), is a novel haemodynamic measurement representing both cardiac filling pressures and contractility. We hypothesized that API would better predict clinical outcomes than traditional haemodynamic metrics of cardiac function. METHODS AND RESULTS The Evaluation Study of Congestive Heart Failure and Pulmonary Artery Catheterization Effectiveness (ESCAPE) trial individual-level data were used. Routine haemodynamic measurements, including Fick cardiac index (CI), and the advanced haemodynamic metrics of API, cardiac power output (CPO), and pulmonary artery pulsatility index (PAPI) were calculated after final haemodynamic-monitored optimization. The primary outcome was a composite endpoint of death or need for orthotopic heart transplant (OHT) or left ventricular assist device (LVAD) at 6 months. A total of 433 participants were enrolled in the ESCAPE trial of which 145 had final haemodynamic data. Final API measurements predicted the primary outcome, OR 0.47 (95% CI 0.32-0.70, P < 0.001), while CI, CPO, and PAPI did not. Receiver operator characteristic analyses of final advanced haemodynamic measurements indicated API best predicted the primary outcome with a cutoff of 2.9 (sensitivity 76.2%, specificity 55.3%, correctly classified 61.4%, area-under-the-curve 0.71), compared with CPO, CI, and PAPI. Kaplan-Meier analyses indicated API ≥ 2.9 was associated with greater freedom from the primary outcome (83.5%), compared with API < 2.9 (58.4%), P = 0.001. While PAPI was also significantly associated, CI and CPO were not. CONCLUSIONS The novel haemodynamic measurement API better predicted clinical outcomes in the ESCAPE trial when compared with traditional invasive haemodynamic metrics of cardiac function.

Impact of cytomegalovirus infection on gene expression profile in heart transplant recipients.

Abstract: BACKGROUND Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection has been implicated in the pathogenesis of allograft rejection in heart transplant (HT) recipients. The effect of a CMV infection on the gene expression profiling (GEP, AlloMap) scores in the absence of acute rejection is not known. METHODS Data from 14,985 samples collected from 2,288 adult HT recipients enrolled in Outcomes AlloMap Registry were analyzed. Patients with known CMV serology at the time of HT who had at least 1 AlloMap score reported during follow-up were included. AlloMap scores for those patients with CMV (but no ongoing rejection) were compared with those who were never infected. An exploratory analysis on the impact of CMV on available donor-derived cell-free DNA (AlloSure) was also performed. RESULTS A total of 218 patients (10%) were reported to have CMV infection after transplantation. AlloMap score in those samples with CMV infection (n = 311) had a GEP score (34; range: 29–36) significantly higher than the GEP score from samples (n = 14,674) obtained in the absence of CMV infection (30; range: 26–34; p CONCLUSIONS CMV infection in HT recipients is associated with an increase in AlloMap score, whereas AlloSure results do not appear to be impacted. This information should be considered when clinically interpreting abnormal/high AlloMap scores in HT recipients.

Feasibility of remote speech analysis in evaluation of dynamic fluid overload in heart failure patients undergoing haemodialysis treatment.

Abstract: Aims This study aimed to assess the ability of a voice analysis application to discriminate between wet and dry states in chronic heart failure (CHF) patients undergoing regular scheduled haemodialysis treatment due to volume overload as a result of their chronic renal failure. Methods and results In this single-centre, observational study, five patients with CHF, peripheral oedema of ≥2, and pulmonary congestion-related dyspnoea, undergoing haemodialysis three times per week, recorded five sentences into a standard smartphone/tablet before and after haemodialysis. Recordings were provided that same noon/early evening and the next morning and evening. Patient weight was measured at the hospital before and after each haemodialysis session. Recordings were analysed by a smartphone application (app) algorithm, to compare speech measures (SMs) of utterances collected over time. On average, patients provided recordings throughout 25.8 ± 3.9 dialysis treatment cycles, resulting in a total of 472 recordings. Weight changes of 1.95 ± 0.64 kg were documented during cycles. Median baseline SM prior to dialysis was 0.87 ± 0.17, and rose to 1.07 ± 0.15 following the end of the dialysis session, at noon (P = 0.0355), and remained at a similar level until the following morning (P = 0.007). By the evening of the day following dialysis, SMs returned to baseline levels (0.88 ± 0.19). Changes in patient weight immediately after dialysis positively correlated with SM changes, with the strongest correlation measured the evening of the dialysis day [slope: -0.40 ± 0.15 (95% confidence interval: -0.71 to -0.10), P = 0.0096]. Conclusions The fluid-controlled haemodialysis model demonstrated the ability of the app algorithm to identify cyclic changes in SMs, which reflected bodily fluid levels. The voice analysis platform bears considerable potential as a harbinger of impending fluid overload in a range of clinical scenarios, which will enhance monitoring and triage efforts, ultimately optimizing remote CHF management.

Relation of Left Ventricular Assist Device Infections With Cardiac Transplant Outcomes.

Abstract: Left ventricular assist device (LVAD)-specific infections (LSIs) are common in patients on LVAD support awaiting heart transplant (HT), yet their impact on post-HT outcomes is not completely understood. We hypothesized that LSIs would result in vasoplegia and negatively affect post-HT 30-day and 1-year outcomes. LSI was defined as driveline, pump, or pocket infection. The short-term outcome was a composite of acute renal failure, allograft rejection, and mortality at 30 days after HT. The long-term outcome was a composite of allograft rejection and death within 1 year after HT. We performed a retrospective analysis of 111 HT recipients bridged with durable LVAD support at our institution from May 2012 to August 2019. Of these, 63 patients had LSIs, with 94% of the infections being driveline infections. Vasoplegia was more prevalent in the LSI group but not significantly (7 vs 2 persons, p = 0.3). There was no difference in the composite end point of acute renal failure, rejection, or death at 30 days (30% vs 25%, p = 0.55) or 1-year end point of rejection and death (38% vs 40%, p = 0.87) in patients with LSI versus those without LSI. In conclusion, LSIs were common in patients on LVAD who underwent HT in our single-center contemporary cohort. However, LSI was not associated with adverse outcomes at 30 days or at 1 year after HT.

Proximal ascending aorta size is associated with the incidence of de novo aortic insufficiency with left ventricular assist device

Abstract: We sought to assess the impact of the aortic root geometry on developing de novo aortic insufficiency (AI) in patients undergoing left ventricular assist device (LVAD). In total, 114 patients underwent LVAD implantation between February 2016 and January 2020 were included in this study (HeartMate3 N = 68, HeartWare N = 46). Significant aortic insufficiency was defined as mild-to-moderate or greater in echocardiography. The cohort was divided into two groups; those who developed significant AI (Group AI: n = 13) and did not (Group non-AI: n = 101). The primary outcomes of interest included late survival and predictors for significant AI. The patients in Group AI were older than Group non-AI (62.6 ± 11.9 vs 51.3 ± 14.0 years, p < 0.01). The diameter of proximal ascending aorta in Group AI was larger than Group non-AI (31.0 ± 5.0 vs 27.4 ± 4.3 mm, p < 0.01). Aortic valve remained closed in 53.8% in Group AI and 36.6% in Group non-AI (p = 0.24). The late survival was not significantly different between the groups (67.1% vs 76.0% at 3 years, log rank = 0.97). The Cox hazard model showed that larger proximal ascending aortic diameter/BSA (HR 1.55, CI 1.19–2.04, p < 0.01) and not-opening aortic valve (HR 4.73, CI 1.43–16.9, p = 0.01) were independent risk factors for significant AI. The cutoff value of proximal ascending aortic diameter/BSA was 15.5 (area under curve: 0.770, sensitivity: 0.69, specificity: 0.79). Dilated proximal ascending aorta at the time of LVAD surgery and not-opening aortic valve during follow-up were associated with the incidence of de novo significant AI.