Assessment of early treatment response by rapid cardiothoracic ultrasound in acute heart failure: Cardiac filling pressures, pulmonary congestion and mortality

Background: It is unclear how to optimally monitor acute heart failure (AHF) patients. We evaluated the timely interplay of cardiac filling pressures, brain natriuretic peptides (BNPs), lung ultrasound (LUS) and symptoms during AHF treatment. Methods: We enrolled 60 patients who had been hospitalised for AHF. Patients were examined with a rapid cardiothoracic ultrasound (CaTUS) protocol, combining LUS and focused echocardiographic evaluation of cardiac filling pressures (i.e. medial E/e' and inferior vena cava index [IVCi]). CaTUS was done at 0, 12, 24 and 48 hours (3 hours) and on the day of discharge, alongside clinical evaluation and laboratory samples. Patients free of congestion (Blines or pleural fluid) on LUS at discharge were categorised as responders, whereas the rest were categorised as non-responders. Improvement in congestion parameters was evaluated separately in these groups. The effect of congestion parameters on prognosis was also analysed. Results: Responders experienced a significantly larger decline in E/e' (2.58 vs. 0.38, p=0.037) and dyspnoea visual analogue scale (1-10) score (7.68 vs. 3.57, p=0.007) during the first 12 hours of treatment, while IVCi and BNPs declined later without no such rapid initial decline. Among patients experiencing a >3 U decline in E/e' during the first 12 hours of treatment, 18/21 were to become responders (p<0.001). LUS response was the only congestion parameter independently predicting both 6-month survival regarding all-cause mortality and the composite endpoint of all-cause mortality or rehospitalisation for AHF. Conclusion: E/e' seemed like the most useful congestion parameter for monitoring early treatment response, predicting prognostically beneficial resolution of pulmonary congestion.