A critical review on telemonitoring in heart failure.

Morbidity and mortality remain high in heart failure despite considerable progress achieved with medical therapy and electrical devices. A multidisciplinary approach is actually strongly recommended. In order to provide optimal care to the ever-growing population of patients with heart failure, telemonitoring has been proposed as a modality to improve usual care. The aim of this review is to provide an overview of the existing evidence on telemonitoring in HF. Despite two major meta-analyses with favourable results, two recent, large, multicentre, randomized controlled trials, one with a sophisticated technical remote telemonitoring approach (TIM-HF) in stable chronic HF and the other with a comprehensive telephone-based interactive voice-response monitoring (Tele-HF) in patients recently hospitalized for heart failure, have been performed and both failed to demonstrate a clinical benefit for telemonitoring. Newer technologies or other modalities, such as collaboration between a general practitioner and a heart failure clinic facilitated by telemonitoring should be further evaluated. Dedicated telemonitoring for heart failure may be a practical adjunct in selective centres and patients, on top of usual care, including education and a multidisciplinary approach. However, prior to being accepted as a standard of care, more evidence from large, randomized clinical trials is required.

Acetazolamide in Decompensated Heart Failure with Volume Overload trial (ADVOR): baseline characteristics.

AIMS: To describe the baseline characteristics of participants in the Acetazolamide in Decompensated Heart Failure with Volume Overload (ADVOR) trial and compare these with other contemporary diuretic trials in acute heart failure (AHF). METHODS AND RESULTS: ADVOR recruited 519 patients with AHF, clinically evident volume overload, elevated N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) and maintenance loop diuretic therapy prior to admission. All participants received standardized loop diuretics and were randomized towards once daily intravenous acetazolamide (500 mg) versus placebo, stratified according to study centre and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) (≤40% vs. >40%). The primary endpoint was successful decongestion assessed by a dedicated score indicating no more than trace oedema and no other signs of congestion after three consecutive days of treatment without need for escalating treatment. Mean age was 78 years, 63% were men, mean LVEF was 43%, and median NT-proBNP 6173 pg/ml. The median clinical congestion score was 4 with an EuroQol-5 dimensions health utility index of 0.6. Patients with LVEF ≤40% were more often male, had more ischaemic heart disease, higher levels of NT-proBNP and less atrial fibrillation. Compared with diuretic trials in AHF, patients enrolled in ADVOR were considerably older with higher NT-proBNP levels, reflecting the real-world clinical situation. CONCLUSION: ADVOR is the largest randomized diuretic trial in AHF, investigating acetazolamide to improve decongestion on top of standardized loop diuretics. The elderly enrolled population with poor quality of life provides a good representation of the real-world AHF population. The pragmatic design will provide novel insights in the diuretic treatment of patients with AHF.