Usefulness of the Sum of Pulmonary Capillary Wedge Pressure and Right Atrial Pressure as a Congestion Index that Prognosticates Heart Failure Survival (from the Evaluation Study of Congestive Heart Failure and Pulmonary Artery Catheterization Effectiveness Trial)

In the Evaluation Study of Congestive Heart Failure and Pulmonary Artery Catheterization Effectiveness (ESCAPE) trial, use of a pulmonary artery catheter did not significantly affect advanced heart failure outcomes. However, the success of achieving the targeted hemodynamic goals of pulmonary capillary wedge pressure (PCWP) of 15 mm Hg and right atrial pressure (RAP) of 8 mm Hg and the association of these goals with clinical outcomes were not addressed. Furthermore, goals with 2 independent variables, PCWP and RAP, left room for uncertainties. We assessed the ability of a single hemodynamic target to achieve a threshold sum of PCWP and RAP as a predictor of all-cause mortality, death-or-transplantation (DT), or death-or-rehospitalization (DR) at 6 months in the pulmonary artery catheter–guided treatment arm of ESCAPE (n = 206). Patients with a posttreatment PCWP + RAP of <30 mm Hg had characteristics similar to those of the population who achieved the ESCAPE hemodynamic goals. This group had 8.7% mortality, 13.0% DT, and 58.7% DR at 6 months. The contrasting cohort with PCWP + RAP of ≥30 mm Hg had 45.3% mortality, 54.7% DT, and 84.9% DR at 6 months, with greater relative risk (RR) of death (RR 5.76), DT (RR 4.92), and DR (RR 1.80) and higher prevalence of jugular venous pulsation, edema, hepatomegaly, and ascites at admission and discharge. In conclusion, PCWP + RAP of 30 mm Hg posttreatment, obtained early in the index hospitalization, may represent as a simple congestion index that has prognostic value for heart failure survival and readmission rates at 6 months and as a warning signal for more aggressive intervention, thus warranting further validation.