Rationale and Design of Low-dose Administration of Carperitide for Acute Heart Failure (LASCAR-AHF).

BACKGROUNDS: Despite current therapies, acute heart failure (AHF) remains a major public health burden with high rates of in-hospital and post-discharge morbidity and mortality. Carperitide is a recombinantly produced intravenous formulation of human atrial natriuretic peptide that promotes vasodilation with increased salt and water excretion, which leads to reduction of cardiac filling pressures. A previous open-label randomized controlled study showed that carperitide improved long-term cardiovascular mortality and heart failure (HF) hospitalization for patients with AHF, when adding to standard therapy. However, the study was underpowered to detect a difference in mortality because of the small sample size. METHODS: Low-dose Administration of Carperitide for Acute Heart Failure (LASCAR-AHF) is a multicenter, randomized, open-label, controlled study designed to evaluate the efficacy of intravenous carperitide in hospitalized patients with AHF. Patients hospitalized for AHF will be randomly assigned to receive either intravenous carperitide (0.02 µg/kg/min) in addition to standard treatment or matching standard treatment for 72 h. The primary end point is death or rehospitalization for HF within 2 years. A total of 260 patients will be enrolled between 2013 and 2018. CONCLUSION: The design of LASCAR-AHF will provide data of whether carperitide reduces the risk of mortality and rehospitalization for HF in selected patients with AHF.