Compared with standard medical care, early use of a temporary intra-aortic balloon pump (IABP) to support heart function in patients who were critically ill with cardiogenic shock caused by heart failure did not improve 60-day survival or enable more patients to successfully transition to long-term treatment, according to featured clinical research presented at the American College of Cardiology’s Annual Scientific Session (ACC.25) and simultaneously published in JACC. The trial was stopped early when an independent monitoring group of physicians concluded that the device offered patients no additional benefit.

People with heart failure are often advised to limit their fluid intake. However, a large study led by Radboud university medical center now shows that this practice does not provide any health benefits. Researchers writing in Nature Medicine found that it is safe when patients with heart failure regulate their own fluid intake.

At two years of follow-up, patients with a poorly functioning tricuspid valve in the heart who received the best available medical therapy plus a minimally invasive procedure using a clip to repair the valve were 28% less likely to be hospitalized for recurrent heart failure than similar patients who were initially randomly assigned to medical therapy alone. The study was presented at the American College of Cardiology’s Annual Scientific Session (ACC.25).

A device designed to remove embolic material—fragments of tissue that can be released into the bloodstream during transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR)—did not result in a reduction in the rate of stroke, according to a randomized trial presented at the American College of Cardiology’s Annual Scientific Session (ACC.25). 

About The Study: Among patients with heart failure with mildly reduced ejection fraction/heart failure with preserved ejection fraction in the Finerenone Trial to Investigate Efficacy and Safety Superior to Placebo in Patients With Heart Failure randomized clinical trial, higher proportions of cardiovascular and overall mortality in those with ejection fraction less than 50% were related principally to higher proportions of sudden death. A clear treatment effect of finerenone on cardiovascular or cause-specific mortality was not identified, although the trial was likely underpowered for these outcomes.

A program that delivered in-home visits from a trained paramedic team to people with heart failure did not significantly reduce 30-day hospital readmissions or improve health status compared with standard follow-up phone calls, according to research presented at the American College of Cardiology’s Annual Scientific Session (ACC.25).

Among iron-deficient patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF), receiving intravenous iron supplementation was found to be safe but resulted in mixed findings, according to a study presented at the American College of Cardiology’s Annual Scientific Session (ACC.25).

People with heart failure have long been advised to limit the amount of fluids they consume each day to help reduce congestion, or the buildup of fluid in the lungs and extremities, but that advice provides no benefit, according to a study presented at the American College of Cardiology’s Annual Scientific Session (ACC.25).

About The Study: In patients with heart failure and iron deficiency, ferric carboxymaltose did not significantly reduce the time to first heart failure hospitalization or cardiovascular death in the overall cohort or in patients with a transferrin saturation less than 20%, or reduce the total number of heart failure hospitalizations vs placebo.

Patients with heart failure who took dapagliflozin, a sodium-glucose co-transporter-2 (SGLT-2) inhibitor, after undergoing transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) were significantly less likely to die or experience worsening heart failure at one year compared with patients who did not take the drug, according to a study presented at the American College of Cardiology’s Annual Scientific Session (ACC.25).