Not provided
Not provided
Not provided
Not provided
Not provided
Not provided
Not provided
Not provided
Not provided
Not provided
Not provided
Not provided
Not provided
Not provided
Not provided
Not provided
Not provided
Heart failure (HF) is a chronic condition that is characterized by a weakened and enlarged heart. It typically causes symptoms such as breathlessness and swelling of the legs, and it is a serious illness that shortens life expectancy. In recent years, new medicines have been developed that can improve heart function and help patients with HF live longer. HF patients with reduced heart function typically are recommended to take four different medicines for the rest of their lives. Some patients respond so well to treatment that their heart function and symptoms appear to recover; this is called HF in remission. While the four standard medicines have proven to increase lifespan in patients with heart failure with reduced heart function, it is not known whether they all need to be continued lifelong after recovery of the heart. Current guidelines recommend treating patients lifelong, yet this is based on limited scientific evidence. Lifelong therapy comes with disadvantages: it carries considerable costs for patients and health care systems, causes potential side effects, and makes it harder for patients to keep up with all their other medications. This study will test whether carefully reducing certain HF medicines is safe compared to continuing them. Patients with heart failure in remission will be randomly assigned to either: (1) continue all standard therapies, or (2) gradually reduce medicines to just two per day under close medical supervision. Patients will followed for two years to see whether their heart function remains stable. This will be measured by looking at echograms of the heart (echocardiograms), blood tests, and whether patients experience serious events such as hospitalizations or death. This study will investigate whether partial therapy discontinuation is safe and feasible.
Not provided
Not provided
Not provided
Not provided
Not provided
| Label | Type | Description | Intervention Names |
|---|---|---|---|
| Control | Active Comparator | Continuation of guideline-recommended medical therapy for heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (e.g., an ACE inhibitor/angiotensin-receptor blocker/angiotensin-receptor and neprilysin inhibitor, SGLT2 inhibitor, beta blocker, and/or mineralocorticoid receptor blocker). |
|
| Intervention | Experimental | Down-titration of guideline-recommended medical therapy for heart failure with reduced ejection fraction to a combination of an ACE inhibitor or angiotensin-receptor blocker and a beta blocker. |
|
| Name | Type | Description | Arm Group Labels | Other Names |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Down-titration | Drug | The intervention involves a 3-month therapy down-titration period, during which the SGLT2 inhibitor and minerolocorticoid receptor antagonist are withdrawn, and the angiotensin receptor-neprilysin inhibitor is replaced by an ACE inhibitor or angiotensin receptor blocker. The drug formulations used per drug class correspond with the ESC guideline recommendations:
|
| Measure | Description | Time Frame |
|---|---|---|
| Time to first occurrence of recurrent adverse remodeling, significant NT-proBNP increase or all-cause mortality. | The primary outcome is a composite of (1) adverse remodeling, defined as an LVESVi increase of more than 20% from baseline using echocardiography, (2) a significant biomarker increase, defined as an NT-proBNP increase to more than 500 pg/mL, or (3) all-cause mortality. | From enrollment to 2 year follow-up |
| Measure | Description | Time Frame |
|---|---|---|
| Time to first occurrence of cardiovascular mortality or heart failure hospitalizations | From enrollment to 2 year follow-up | |
| Change in quality of life | Measured as the change in the Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire (KCCQ)-12 score. It provides a 0-100 summary score (higher is better) assessing physical limitations, symptom frequency, social limitations, and quality of life. A 5-point difference is clinically significant, with 75-100 indicating good health. |
Not provided
Inclusion Criteria:
Exclusion Criteria:
Not provided
Not provided
Not provided
Not provided
Not provided
Not provided
Not provided
| Facility | Status | City | State | ZIP | Country | Contacts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ziekenhuis Oost-Limburg | Recruiting | Genk | 3600 | Belgium |
Not provided
| ID | Term |
|---|---|
| D006333 | Heart Failure |
| ID | Term |
|---|---|
| D006331 | Heart Diseases |
| D002318 | Cardiovascular Diseases |
Not provided
Not provided
Not provided
Not provided
Not provided
The LVESVi endpoint will be assessed by a core echocardiography laboratory, blinded to treatment arm assignment.
|
| Continuation of guideline-directed heart failure therapy | Drug | The comparator involves the continuation of the maximally tolerated dose of guideline-recommended medical therapy (e.g., ACEi/ARB/ARNI, MRA, SGLT2i, and/or beta blocker) the patient is using at the time of screening. The formulations per drug class may differ according to treatment regimen at randomization, but may include:
|
|
| From enrollment to 2 year follow-up |
| Proportion of patients requiring heart failure therapy re-initiation or intensification for any reason | From enrollment to 2 year follow-up |