Usefulness of inferior vena cava ultrasonography in outpatients with chronic heart failure.

Link to article at PubMed

Related Articles

Usefulness of inferior vena cava ultrasonography in outpatients with chronic heart failure.

Clin Cardiol. 2018 Apr 17;:

Authors: Curbelo J, Aguilera M, Rodriguez-Cortes P, Gil-Martinez P, Suarez Fernandez C

Abstract
BACKGROUND: Inferior vena cava (IVC) ultrasonography has been used for the diagnosis and prognosis of acute heart failure (HF). Its usefulness in chronic HF is less known.
HYPOTHESIS: IVC ultrasonography is a useful tool in the care of patients with chronic HF.
METHODS: For this prospective cohort study, 95 patients with chronic HF were included consecutively as they attended scheduled medical visits. Ultrasound was done with a 5-MHz convex probe device, calculating IVC collapse index (IVCCI). Follow-up time was 1 year. Outcome events were worsening HF, hospital admission for HF, HF mortality, and all-cause mortality.
RESULTS: Worsening HF occurred in 70.9% of patients with IVCCI <30% and 39.1% of patients with IVCCI >50%, with a hazard ratio (HR) of 2.8 (95% CI: 1.3-6.2) adjusted by multivariable analysis. Regarding hospitalization, 45.3% of patients with IVCCI <30% required admission, compared with 5.9% of patients with IVCCI >50%; the adjusted HR was 13.9 (95% CI: 1.7-113.0). Mortality was higher in the IVCCI <30% group, with 25.7% all-cause mortality and 18.6% HF mortality, whereas in the IVCCI >50% group these values were 13% and 4.7%, respectively. However, these differences did not reach statistical significance. ROC analysis was performed and the AUC for IVCCI was not higher than that for NTproBNP for any of the outcomes studied.
CONCLUSIONS: IVC ultrasonography is a useful tool in follow-up of patients with chronic HF, allowing identification of patients at high risk of worsening and hospitalization. However, its usefulness is not higher than that of NTproBNP.

PMID: 29664116 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.