Heart Failure Society Meeting In Brief
This article was originally published in The Gray Sheet
Executive Summary
Rheos diastolic heart failure trial: Minneapolis firm CVRx has begun a 60-patient randomized, double-blind clinical trial of its Rheos baroreflex activation therapy system for treatment of diastolic heart failure, a heart's inability to fully relax and let the ventricle fill with blood, Michael Zile, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, said at the Heart Failure Society of America Scientific Meeting in Toronto on Sept. 22. Rheos electrically activates the carotid baroreceptors, the body's natural cardiovascular regulation sensor. All patients in the trial will have heart failure with a left-ventricular ejection fraction of at least 45%. The primary endpoint of the trial will be left-ventricular mass index. The Minneapolis company is also currently sponsoring a 300-patient trial of Rheos to treat drug-resistant hypertension (1"The Gray Sheet" Aug. 4, 2008, p. 14)