A Novel Approach to Monitoring Pulmonary Congestion in Heart Failure: Initial Animal and Clinical Experiences Using Remote Dielectric Sensing Technology

Despite current therapies and disease management approaches, rates of heart failure ( HF ) rehospitalization remain high. New tools are needed to assess preclinical (asymptomatic) pulmonary congestion to enable outpatient management. Hence, a novel monitoring system based on noninvasive remote dielectric sensing ( R e DS ) technology was developed. Validation of the R e DS technology was conducted in preclinical and clinical studies. In a porcine HF model, acute fluid overload followed by administration of diuretics were performed. Changes in R e DS values were correlated to serial computed tomographic ( CT ) assessments of lung fluid concentrations. In hospitalized decompensated HF patients, changes in R e DS values were correlated to net fluid balance changes. A nearly linear pattern between the changes in R e DS and CT fluid concentration values was observed in 6 discrete experiments ( I ntraclass correlation=0.95). Results from 24 patients demonstrated a reduction in R e DS values of 17.53%±11% throughout hospitalization, consistent with a reduction in pulmonary congestion. This finding strongly correlated with changes in net fluid balance ( P earson correlation=0.86; 95% c onfidence i nterval, 0.68–0.94; R 2 =0.74). These findings suggest that R e DS technology accurately quantifies lung fluid concentration and has potential for monitoring HF patients through hospitalization and possibly at home.