The utility of novel non-invasive technologies for remote hemodynamic monitoring in chronic heart failure

Abstract

Monitoring a patient’s hemodynamic status may be a revolutionary way to aid a ‘health maintenance’ strategy in which the physician strives to therapeutically keep the patient in an ideal hemodynamic range. Currently, home telemonitoring employs a ‘crisis-prevention’ approach. This strategy is still based on easily acquired measures such as heart rate, weight and blood pressure – measurements that are useful to help implement guideline-directed therapy but provide little information about impending decompensation or the risk of hospitalisation. Current systems provide limited information to personalize and adapt medication therapy for heart failure. Several innovative technologies that can remotely monitor estimates of cardiovascular hemodynamics, such as cardiac index, systemic vascular resistance, augmentation index and added heart sounds may enable earlier detection of heart failure decompensation. This editorial presents an overview of the innovative technologies that are available for non-invasive hemodynamic monitoring and maybe adapted for home telemonitoring for chronic heart failure.

Keywords::

• bio-impedance
• cardiac output
• heart failure
• telemonitoring

Financial & competing interests disclosure

J Cleland acted as Chief Medical Officer for the Heartcycle study. This work has received funding from the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme under grant agreement n° FP7–216695. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.

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