Study of Heart Failure Hospitalizations After Aquapheresis Therapy Compared to Intravenous (IV) Diuretic Treatment

The aim of the proposed AVOID-HF study is to confirm and expand the findings that fluid removal by AQ reduces HF rehospitalizations at 90 days as well as the length of these HF rehospitalizations. In the "Ultrafiltration Versus Intravenous Diuretics for Patients Hospitalized for Acute Decompensated Heart Failure" (UNLOAD) study, the 90 day HF re-hospitalizations were pre-specified secondary end-points. AVOID-HF is designed with a primary end-point to determine if AQ reduces the number of HF events (Rehospitalization or unscheduled outpatient or emergency room treatment for HF) after discharge from index hospitalization compared to IV loop diuretics. AVOID will also explore days alive and out of the hospital as a secondary end-point, which was not done in UNLOAD. In other words, the AVOID-HF study is going beyond studying only the amount of fluid removal and will explore whether the modality of fluid removal influences HF outcomes.