Abstract

BACKGROUND: The objective of this work was to determine the impact of improving right ventricular versus left ventricular stroke work indexes (RVSWI vs LVSWI) during therapy for acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF). METHODS AND RESULTS: Cox proportional hazards regression and logistic regression were used to analyze key factors associated with outcomes in 175 patients (mean age 56.7 ± 13.6 years, 29.1% female) with hemodynamic data from the Evaluation Study of Congestive Heart Failure and Pulmonary Artery Catheterization Effectiveness trial. In this cohort, 28.6% and 69.7%, respectively, experienced the outcomes of death, transplantation, or ventricular assist device implantatation (DVADTX) and DVADTX or HF rehospitalization (DVADTXHF) during 6 months of follow-up. Increasing RVSWI (ΔRVSWI) from baseline to discharge was associated with a decrease in DVADTXHF (hazard ratio [HR] 0.923, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.871-0.979) per 0.1 mm Hg⋅L⋅m^-2 increase); however, increasing LVSWI (ΔLVSWI) had only a nonsignificant association with decreased DVADTXHF (P = .11) In a multivariable model, patients with ΔRVSWI ≤1.07 mm Hg⋅L⋅m^-2 and ΔLVSWI ≤4.57 mm Hg⋅L⋅m^-2 had a >2-fold risk of DVADTXHF (HR 2.05, 95% CI 1.23-3.41; P = .006). CONCLUSION: Compared with left ventricular stroke work, increasing right ventricular stroke work during treatment of ADHF was associated with better outcomes. The results promise to inform optimal hemodynamic targets for ADHF.