Nt-proBNP Versus Clinical Guided Discharge in Acute Heart Failure

University of Valencia

Status and phase: Completed; Phase 4

Conditions: Heart Failure

Treatments: Other: Nt-proBNP guided discharge

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT01299350

University of Valencia

Details and patient eligibility

About

Our objective is to compare a policy of hospital discharge guided by NT-proBNP levels versus discharge guided by conventional clinical criteria, in patients admitted with acute heart failure. The hypothesis is that the Nt-proBNP guided discharge will shorten hospital stay without worsening the outcome

Full description

Nt-proBNP levels as well as their response to pharmacological treatment are predictive of prognosis in patients with heart failure. The purpose of the present project is to investigate, in patients hospitalized with acute heart failure, whether a discharge decision guided by Nt-proBNP response shortens hospital stay and improves prognosis The included patients will be randomly assigned to one of these two strategies: hospital discharge according to clinical conventional criteria or discharge guided by Nt-proBNP. All patients will be treated following clinical guidelines. In the guided Nt-proBNP strategy, patients will be discharged the third day if NT-proBNP levels drops >30% compared to admission values. If such a reduction is not achieved, then the pharmacological treatment will be increased and NT-proBNP will be measured the following days until reaching the 30% reduction. In the conventional strategy, patients will be discharged at criterion of the attending cardiologist according to clinical assessment without Nt-proBNP. The main outcome will be the number of days of hospitalization at the index episode, and the secondary outcome will be death or readmission by heart failure at one and 6 months. Our hypothesis is that the Nt-proBNP guided discharge will allow to precisely evaluate the response to treatment and to determine the best time for hospital discharge. This will reduce hospital stay and death or readmission rate after discharge.

Enrollment: 125 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

1. clinical signs and symptoms of acute heart failure, according to the criteria of the European guidelines
2. NT-proBNP levels > 1000 pg/ml at the time of admission
3. age over 18 years old
4. signed informed consent

Exclusion criteria

1. GFR less than 30 ml/minute/m2,
2. life expectancy as determined by concomitant diseases under one year,
3. acute coronary syndrome within 10 days prior,
4. valvular heart disease with surgical approach,
5. infection or process active malignancy,
6. chronic respiratory failure with pulmonary disease.

Trial design

125 participants in 2 patient groups

Usual

No Intervention group

Description:

Every patient will receive the drug treatment indicated in the guidelines of the European Society of Cardiology. Patients will be discharged according to routine clinical practice based on symptoms, physical examination and other data that the cardiologist deems appropriate, except for Nt-proBNP.

Nt-proBNP guided

Experimental group

Description:

Every patient will receive the drug treatment indicated in the guidelines of the European Society of Cardiology. Patients will be discharged the third day if NT-proBNP levels drops \>30% compared to admission values. If such a reduction is not achieved, then the pharmacological treatment will be increased and NT-proBNP will be measured the following days until reaching the 30% reduction. The cutoff point of 30% reduction in NTproBNP was chosen based on previous studies

Treatment:

Other: Nt-proBNP guided discharge