Logo image
Pragmatic Design of Randomized Clinical Trials for Heart Failure: Rationale and Design of the TRANSFORM-HF Trial
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Pragmatic Design of Randomized Clinical Trials for Heart Failure: Rationale and Design of the TRANSFORM-HF Trial

Stephen J Greene, Eric J Velazquez, Kevin J Anstrom, Eric L Eisenstein, Shelly Sapp, Shelby Morgan, Tina Harding, Vandana Sachdev, Fassil Ketema, Dong-Yun Kim, …
JACC. Heart failure, Vol.9(5), pp.325-335
05/2021
DOI: 10.1016/j.jchf.2021.01.013
PMCID: PMC8087639
PMID: 33714745
url
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jchf.2021.01.013View
Published (Version of record) Open Access

Abstract

Randomized clinical trials are the foundation of evidence-based medicine and central to practice guidelines and patient care decisions. Nonetheless, randomized trials in heart failure (HF) populations have become increasingly difficult to conduct and are frequently associated with slow patient enrollment, highly selected populations, extensive data collection, and high costs. The traditional model for HF trials has become particularly difficult to execute in the United States, where challenges to site-based research have frequently led to modest U.S. representation in global trials. In this context, the TRANSFORM-HF (Torsemide Comparison with Furosemide for Management of Heart Failure) trial aims to overcome traditional trial challenges and compare the effects of torsemide versus furosemide among patients with HF in the United States. Loop diuretic agents are regularly used by most patients with HF and practice guidelines recommend optimal use of diuretic agents as key to a successful treatment strategy. Long-time clinical experience has contributed to dominant use of furosemide for loop diuretic therapy, although preclinical and small clinical studies suggest potential advantages of torsemide. However, due to the lack of appropriately powered clinical outcome studies, there is insufficient evidence to conclude that torsemide should be routinely recommended over furosemide. Given this gap in knowledge and the fundamental role of loop diuretic agents in HF care, the TRANSFORM-HF trial was designed as a prospective, randomized, event-driven, pragmatic, comparative-effectiveness study to definitively compare the effect of a treatment strategy of torsemide versus furosemide on long-term mortality, hospitalization, and patient-reported outcomes among patients with HF. (TRANSFORM-HF: ToRsemide compArisoN With furoSemide FORManagement of Heart Failure [TRANSFORM-HF]; NCT03296813).
Diuretics - therapeutic use Furosemide - therapeutic use Heart Failure - drug therapy Humans Prospective Studies Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic Torsemide Treatment Outcome

Details

Metrics

Logo image