Over 6 million Americans suffer from heart failure, one of the most prevalent and deadly diseases in the United States. High rates of rehospitalization and mortality and treatment costs have persisted for decades despite advances in care. Clinical guidelines recommend assessment of blood volume and clinical management to euvolemia or normal blood volume, but standard methods of diagnosing blood volume status have been shown to be unreliable. Blood Volume Analysis (Daxor BVA-100) is based on the gold standard indicator dilution technique. BVA has been used to quantify otherwise undiagnosed blood volume derangements and guide treatment in heart failure and other indications. Also, retrospective analyses have shown that care of heart failure patients guided by BVA is associated with improved rates of rehospitalization and mortality.~The proposed study is a prospective, two-center, parallel design, interventional, single-blinded pilot study of the potential for BVA to positively impact the treatment decisions of ADHF clinicians.
Diuretic therapy is first-line treatment for acute decompensated heart failure. However, accurate assessment and management of patient blood volume is challenged by the limitations of physical exam and surrogate markers for blood volume. The study primary objective is to determine if goal-directed care as quantified by direct Blood Volume Analysis (Daxor BVA-100™) in addition to usual care results in more appropriate treatment and consistent achievement of euvolemia.