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Authors : C Ferreira (Coimbra,PT), AS Martinho (Coimbra,PT), JP Almeida (Coimbra,PT), AZ Freitas (Coimbra,PT), JA Ferreira (Coimbra,PT), C Domingues (Coimbra,PT), J Milner (Coimbra,PT), S Costa (Coimbra,PT), F Franco (Coimbra,PT), H Vieira (Coimbra,PT), R Coutinho (Coimbra,PT), R Baptista (Coimbra,PT), L Goncalves (Coimbra,PT)
C Ferreira1
,
AS Martinho1
,
JP Almeida1
,
AZ Freitas1
,
JA Ferreira1
,
C Domingues1
,
J Milner1
,
S Costa1
,
F Franco1
,
H Vieira1
,
R Coutinho1
,
R Baptista1
,
L Goncalves1
,
1University Hospitals of Coimbra, Cardiology A - Coimbra - Portugal
,
Topic(s): Chronic Heart Failure: Pharmacotherapy
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE:The addition of Angiotensin Receptor-Neprilysin Inhibitors (ARNI) to standard therapy of heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) has proved to improve outcomes. Cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET)-derived ergometric variables, as peak oxygen consumption (VO2), are used to determine heart transplant (HTx) eligibility. We aimed to analyse the impact of ARNI therapy in CPET variables.
METHODS: We conducted a retrospective, observational cohort study, including 19 patients with symptomatic HFrEF with a left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction (LVEF) <35% and whose functional capacity was evaluated by CPET less than 6 months before initiating ARNI. We excluded patients who had implanted a cardiac resynchronization therapy device (CRT) or were submitted to heart surgery less than 6 months before the first CPET. A follow-up CPET was conducted 7±4 months after starting ARNI.
RESULTS: Mean age was 55±12 years and 90% were male.Mean LVEF was 26±6% and before initiating ARNI, all patients were on optimal medical therapy, including angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors/angiotensin receptor blockers (100%), ß-blockers (94.7%) and mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists (89.5%). Moreover, 9 patients had an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (D) and 9 patients had a CRT-D.Regarding aetiology, 11 had ischemic heart disease, 6 had dilated cardiomyopathy, 1 had corrected transposition of great arteries and 1 had LV non-compaction. The majority of the patients (73.7%) were on maximal doses of ARNI (97/103mg bid); the remaining were on intermediate dose (49/51 bid). Following ARNI, peak VO2significantly increased from 15.4±5.2 to 17.0±4.0 mL.kg-1.min-1(mean absolute increase of +1.5 mL.kg-1.min-1, p=0.03). Among the 7 patients with peak VO2<14 mL.kg-1.min-1, 3 (43%) improved peak VO2to values >14 mL.kg-1.min-1, pulling the patients out of one of the classical HTx eligibility markers. Regarding other ergometric variables, a numerically increase was observed in mean total exercise duration (12:45 to 13:27 min), in respiratory exchange ratio (RER) (1.08±0.11 to 1.12±0.08) and in peak oxygen pulse (9.9±2.7 to 10.6±2.6 mL.beat-1). Conversely, the mean respiratory efficiency index (VE/VCO2) following ARNI remained similar.
CONCLUSION: In this cohortof HFrEF patients, ARNI significantly improved peak VO2, a major prognostic predictor. Importantly, 3 out of 7 patients with a peak VO2within the HTx threshold recovered to ineligibility values.
