CLUSTER-HF: Lung Ultrasound Guided Therapy in Heart Failure

Introduction: Heart failure is the leading cause of hospitalization among adults >65 years of age. Discharge from a heart failure hospitalization is followed by a 30 day readmission rate of ≈24%. Readmissions for heart failure are typically preceded by a gradual rise in ventricular filling pressures that begins days or weeks before any detectable changes in clinical status.

Lung ultrasound (LUS) is a tool that is easily available at bedside and shows superior sensitivity for the detection of pulmonary congestion when compared with X ray or physical examination, even in the absence of symptoms.

Pulmonary congestion assessed by LUS identifies a subgroup with worse prognosis and a higher rate of readmission and mortality. Whether the implementation of lung ultrasound in the follow up of heart failure patients may reduce the rate of readmissions is unknown.

Objective: The aim of this study is to evaluate a protocol of lung ultrasound guided therapy to prevent readmissions in heart failure outpatients.

Study design: the design of the investigator's study is a single center, single blinded, randomized controlled clinical trial.

Eligibility criteria: patients older than 18 years of age, who have been hospitalized for an acute heart failure syndrome. Exclusion criteria are life expectancy of less than 6 months, a surgically correctable cause of heart failure or uninterpretable lung ultrasound.

Eligible patients will be randomized into either "LUS-guided therapy group" or "control group" at hospital discharge. Follow-up visits will be scheduled at 15 days, 45 days, 3 months and 6 months after hospital discharge. LUS will be performed in all patients at hospital discharge and in every follow-up visit, but only in those allocated to the "LUS-guided therapy group" the information will be provided to the treating physician.

In the "LUS-guided therapy group", a prespecified diuretic dose will be administered to patients depending on the degree of ultrasonographic pulmonary congestion: if congestive (3 or more B lines, in total) a high dose (80-120mg furosemide PO/day) will be prescribed; if no congestive (less than 3 B lines, in total) a low dose (up to 40mg PO/day) will be prescribed.

Primary outcome will be the composite of hospital readmission + mortality. This study complies with the Declaration of Helsinki and the study protocol is being evaluated by the Ethic Committee of our institution.