Team based collaborative care model, facilitated by mHealth enabled and trained nurses, for management of heart failure with reduced ejection fraction in India (TIME-HF): design and rationale of a parallel group, open label, multi-centric cluster randomised controlled trial.

Background: Heart failure (HF) is a debilitating condition associated with enormous public health burden. Management of HF is complex as it requires care-coordination with different cadres of health care providers. We propose to develop a team based collaborative care model (CCM), facilitated by trained nurses, for management of HF with the support of mHealth and evaluate its acceptability and effectiveness in Indian setting. Methods: The proposed study will use mixed-methods research. Formative qualitative research will identify barriers and facilitators for implementing CCM for the management of HF. Subsequently, a cluster randomised controlled trial (RCT) involving 22 centres (tertiary-care hospitals) and more than 1500 HF patients will be conducted to assess the efficacy of the CCM in improving the overall survival as well as days alive and out of hospital (DAOH) at two-years (CTRI/2021/11/037797). The DAOH will be calculated by subtracting days in hospital and days from death until end of study follow-up from the total follow-up time. Poisson regression with a robust variance estimate and an offset term to account for clustering will be employed in the analyses of DAOH. A rate ratio and its 95% confidence interval (CI) will be estimated. The scalability of the proposed intervention model will be assessed through economic analyses (cost-effectiveness) and the acceptability of the intervention at both the provider and patient level will be understood through both qualitative and quantitative process evaluation methods. Potential Impact: The TIME-HF trial will provide evidence on whether a CCM with mHealth support is effective in improving the clinical outcomes of HF with reduced ejection fraction in India. The findings may change the practice of management of HF in low and middle-income countries.

30-Day and 1-Year Outcomes With HYDRA Self-Expanding Transcatheter Aortic Valve: The Hydra CE Study.

OBJECTIVES: This study sought to evaluate the 30-day and 1-year safety and performance of the Hydra transcatheter aortic valve (THV) (in the treatment of symptomatic severe aortic stenosis in patients at high or extreme surgical risk. BACKGROUND: The Hydra THV is a novel repositionable self-expanding system with supra-annular bovine pericardial leaflets. METHODS: The Hydra CE study was a premarket, prospective, multicenter, single-arm study conducted across 18 study centers in Europe and Asia-Pacific countries. The primary endpoint was all-cause mortality at 30 days. All endpoints were adjudicated by an independent clinical events committee. RESULTS: A total of 157 patients (79.2 ± 7.1 years of age, 58.6% female; Society of Thoracic Surgeons score 4.7 ± 3.4%) were enrolled. Successful implantation was achieved in 94.3% cases. At 30 days, there were 11 (7.0%) deaths, including 9 (5.7%) cardiovascular deaths, of which 5 (3.2%) were device related. At 1 year, there were 23 (14.6%) deaths, including 13 (8.3%) cardiovascular deaths. At 30 days, there were significant improvement of effective orifice area (from 0.7 ± 0.2 cm2 to 1.9 ± 0.6 cm2) and mean aortic valve gradient (from 49.5 ± 18.5 mm Hg to 8.1 ± 3.7 mm Hg), which were sustained up to 1 year. Moderate or severe paravalvular leak was observed in 6.3% of patients at 30 days and 6.9% of patients at 1 year. The rate of new permanent pacemaker implantation was 11.7% at 30 days and 12.4% at 1 year. CONCLUSIONS: The Hydra CE study demonstrated that transcatheter aortic valve replacement with Hydra THV offered favorable efficacy at 1 year, providing large effective orifice area and low transvalvular gradient as well as acceptable complication rates with regard to new permanent pacemaker and paravalvular leak. (A Clinical Evaluation of the HYDRA Self Expanding Transcatheter Aortic Valve; NCT02434263).

Traumatic Pseudoaneurysm of Anterior Tibial Artery Treated by Thrombin Injection.

Traumatic pseudoaneurysm of limb arteries are relatively rare. A 70-year-old gentleman, with history of mechanical aortic valve implantation on warfarin, presented to the emergency department with pain and swelling in the right leg. He had sustained blunt injury to the leg, a week prior to presentation. On examination, the lateral compartment of the leg was swollen, ecchymotic, and tense. Distal pulses were well palpable. An ultrasound Doppler evaluation revealed a large intramuscular hematoma in the lateral compartment with a pseudoaneurysm of a muscular branch of the anterior tibial artery. An ultrasound-guided compression of the pseudoaneurysm was initially attempted for 24 hours, which failed in closing off the pseudoaneurysm. He was subsequently taken up for thrombin injection into the pseudoaneurysm, which resulted in instant thrombosis of the pseudoaneurysm, with an uneventful clinical course thereafter. Thrombin injection is an effective and safe modality to treat pseudoaneurysms of limb arteries.

Clinical evaluation of the Hydra self-expanding transcatheter aortic valve: 6 month results from the GENESIS trial.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the safety and performance of the Hydra transcatheter aortic valve (THV) in the treatment of symptomatic severe aortic stenosis in patients at high or extreme surgical risk. BACKGROUND: The Hydra THV (Vascular Innovations Co. Ltd., Nonthaburi, Thailand) is a novel flexible repositionable self-expanding system with supra-annular bovine pericardial leaflets, available in three sizes, covering aortic annuli between 17 and 27 mm. METHODS: The GENESIS trial was a prospective, multi-center, single-arm, 6 month follow-up study conducted in India. The primary performance endpoint was device success defined as per VARC-II criteria at 30 days. The primary safety endpoint was all-cause mortality at 30 days. All endpoints were adjudicated by an independent clinical events committee. RESULTS: Forty high-risk patients (74.5 ± 6.7 years, 60% men; STS Score:5.6 ± 4.2%) were enrolled in 11 centres. Device success was achieved in 92.5%. The effective orifice area improved from 0.7 ± 0.2 to 2.3 ± 0.6 cm2 at 30 days and to 2.2 ± 0.7 cm2 at 6 months (p < .0001). Mean aortic valve gradient decreased from 53.5 ± 18.1 to 8.9 ± 4.9 mmHg at 30 days and to 7.6 ± 2.7 mmHg at 6 months (p < .0001). The rate of new permanent pacemaker implantation was 7.5% at 30 days, and no patient had more than mild paravalvular leak at 6 months. The 30 days and 6 month all-cause mortality was 10.0 and 17.5%, cardiovascular mortality 7.5 and 7.5%, device-related mortality 5.0 and 5.0%, respectively. No patients had stroke up to 6 months. CONCLUSIONS: The GENESIS trial demonstrated high efficacy of the self-expanding Hydra THV. The cardiovascular mortality rate of 7.5% may partly be explained by the inclusion of some centres with no or limited previous experience in transcatheter aortic valve implantation.