# Improving Pulmonary Congestion Assessment in Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction

> **NIH NIH R01** · BRIGHAM AND WOMEN'S HOSPITAL · 2021 · $450,811

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) is a syndrome that is particularly difficult to diagnose and
treat, yet, it is estimated to affect >50% of patients with HF. With >1 million hospitalizations for HF in the U.S.
annually and one-year mortality rates up to 29%, the health and economic impact of HFpEF is substantial. The
early detection of volume overload in the outpatient setting is critical to optimize decongestive therapy prior to
frank decompensation requiring hospitalization. Pulmonary congestion, a hallmark of volume overload in
HFpEF, plays a central role in the progression of decompensation ultimately leading to hospital admission.
However, current diagnostic methods for its detection are insensitive. Our central hypothesis is that the
assessment of pulmonary congestion by lung ultrasound (LUS) in HFpEF will outperform currently available
approaches. LUS is a novel, non-invasive and inexpensive tool in the quantification of pulmonary congestion.
With this study, we will expand our prior work to understand how this method could be utilized in an ambulatory
setting to identify pulmonary congestion in patients with known or suspected HFpEF. Our long-term goal is to
initiate early intervention, improve quality of life, and reduce HF hospitalizations and costs in this population.
Our specific aims are: 1) Determine the prevalence of lung ultrasound findings of pulmonary congestion and
their echocardiographic, biomarker and quality of life correlates in patients with HFpEF. 2A) Investigate the
prognostic value of lung ultrasound-detected pulmonary congestion for adverse HF events in ambulatory
patients with HFpEF. 2B) Develop and validate a congestion-focused risk score for ambulatory patients with
HFpEF integrating clinical, ultrasound and biomarker findings. Our approach is innovative by focusing on new
approaches to volume status assessment in a traditionally difficult to diagnose cohort of HFpEF patients, and
employing an inexpensive point-of-care device paired with a time-efficient, easily learned imaging protocol.
This proposal is significant because it will provide critically important information regarding the incremental
value of LUS for the detection of pulmonary congestion in ambulatory patients with HFpEF. It is therefore a
critical step toward improving the early detection of volume overload in patients at high risk for HF
hospitalizations and the associated morbidity, mortality and cost.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10217241
- **Project number:** 5R01HL148439-02
- **Recipient organization:** BRIGHAM AND WOMEN'S HOSPITAL
- **Principal Investigator:** Elke Platz
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $450,811
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2020-07-15 → 2025-04-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10217241

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10217241, Improving Pulmonary Congestion Assessment in Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction (5R01HL148439-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10217241. Licensed CC0.

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