New therapy may ease congestion for heart failure patients

The American Heart Association estimates that the total cost of heart failure in the United States could reach $70 billion by 2030. Volume overload contributes to 90% of heart failure-related hospitalizations in the U.S. A new therapy developed by Sequana Medical demonstrates that direct sodium removal (DSR) is a safer alternative to remove excess sodium from the body.

The research, led by Jeffrey Testani, MD, Director of Heart Failure research at Yale Cardiovascular Medicine, shows that DSR produced greater sodium removal than a standard peritoneal dialysis solution.

During the study, patients with kidney failure either received a dose of DSR solution or standard therapy. The DSR technique removed over four-times the amount of sodium than the strongest commercially available solution. The patients who received DSR did not experience any significant discomfort or toxic side effects that are common in standard methods.

In a January 10 press release Dr. Testani said, "Volume overload is the primary driver of morbidity and hospitalization in patients with heart failure and loop diuretics, the mainstay of therapy, have well recognized toxicities and loss of response is common. DSR represents a new potential therapy for non-renal sodium and fluid removal in edematous disorders such as heart failure."

Currently, additional research is underway to test the safety and efficacy of this therapy when combined with other therapies.

The study is published in Circulation.