Heart failure & cardiomyopathies

Long-Term Safety and Procedural Performance of an Interatrial Shunt for Heart Failure According to Ejection Fraction

JACC Heart FailPublished

  • Randomized patients were assigned 1:1 to shunt or sham control
  • prespecified stratification by left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF)
  • roll-in patients
+2 more
  • prespecified stratification by left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF)
  • roll-in patients

Authors' conclusion

Interatrial shunt implantation was mechanically reliable and durable through 2 years. Safety outcomes differed by HF phenotype, with no evidence of excess clinical safety events in HFrEF but increased adverse events in HFpEF. These findings support phenotype-specific evaluation of interatrial shunt therapy. (REducing Lung congestion symptoms using the v-wavE shunt in adVancEd Heart Failure [RELIEVE-HF]; NCT03499236).

Study context

Population
Patients with heart failure in the RELIEVE-HF trial, stratified into heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) (LVEF ≤40%) and heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) (LVEF >40%)randomized 508 · roll-in 97
Participants
605 enrolled patients
Comparison
shunt vs sham control, stratified by LVEF into HFrEF and HFpEF

Primary result

As reported in the abstract

Shunt implantation success

Implantation attempted

370

Successful

369

99.7%

Further findings

Device- or procedure-related MACNE among implanted patients with follow-up (n = 348) · through 2 years

No device- or procedure-related MACNE
0%; 95% CI: 0%-0.9%

Shunt patency among implanted patients with follow-up (n = 348) · through 2 years

Shunt patency
99.4% (95% CI: 97.9%-99.9%)

Safety in HFrEF (prespecified LVEF-stratified analysis)

Not associated with excess all-cause MACNE, major bleeding, or renal decline and was associated with lower SAE burden
  • Prespecified

Safety in HFpEF (prespecified LVEF-stratified analysis)

Associated with higher all-cause MACNE, greater SAE burden, increased major bleeding, and greater renal decline
  • Prespecified

Original publication

Long-Term Safety and Procedural Performance of an Interatrial Shunt for Heart Failure According to Ejection Fraction. JACC Heart Fail. Published 13 October 2026. doi:10.1016/j.jchf.2026.103375

Summarised from the published abstract; every number is checked against it