Conditions: Heart Failure Cardiac Failure Acute Decompensated Heart Failure (ADHF)
Keywords: Ultrafiltration Aquapheresis Diuretics Loop Diuretics Aquadex Flexflow System Gambro UF Solutions
Allocation: RANDOMIZED | Intervention model: PARALLEL
Enrollment: 224
Healthy volunteers: no

Brief summary:
The purpose of the research is to determine if patients have fewer Heart Failure (HF) events after receiving Aquapheresis (AQ) therapy compared to intravenous (IV) diuretics up to 90 days of discharge from the hospital. Heart Failure events are defined as returning to the hospital, clinic or emergency department (ED) for treatment of HF symptoms.

Detailed description:
The aim of the proposed AVOID-HF study is to confirm and expand the findings that fluid removal by AQ reduces HF rehospitalizations at 90 days as well as the length of these HF rehospitalizations. In the "Ultrafiltration Versus Intravenous Diuretics for Patients Hospitalized for Acute Decompensated Heart Failure" (UNLOAD) study, the 90 day HF re-hospitalizations were pre-specified secondary end-points. AVOID-HF is designed with a primary end-point to determine if AQ reduces the number of HF events (Rehospitalization or unscheduled outpatient or emergency room treatment for HF) after discharge from index hospitalization compared to IV loop diuretics. AVOID will also explore days alive and out of the hospital as a secondary end-point, which was not done in UNLOAD. In other words, the AVOID-HF study is going beyond studying only the amount of fluid removal and will explore whether the modality of fluid removal influences HF outcomes.

Arms:
arm 1: Excess fluid from the patient is removed by isolated veno-venous ultrafiltration treatment using the Aquadex Flex Flow System arm 2: Excess fluid from the patient is removed by IV (Intravenous) loop diuretic treatment

Interventions: intervention 1: Isolated veno-venous ultrafiltration (AQ) intervention 2: IV Loop Diuretics (LD)
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: Aquapheresis treatment (isolated veno-venous ultrafiltration) using the Aquadex FlexFlow System during index hospitalization until the patient's signs and symptoms of fluid overload have improved to the satisfaction of the treating physician. Ultrafiltration rates, duration and frequency of treatment are dependent on the amount of patient fluid excess and on the rate of fluid movement from the interstitial spaces into the vascular compartment during Aquapheresis (Plasma Refill Rate, or PRR) intervention 2: IV Loop Diuretics treatment using only FDA approved IV loop diuretics indicated for the treatment of patients with fluid overload. This includes furosemide or other IV loop diuretics administered at equivalent doses to furosemide. Patients will receive either a twice daily IV bolus or continuous IV LD infusions according to the high dose protocol of the"Diuretic strategies in patients wth acute decompensated heart failure" (DOSE) trial.

Protocol document: