The Role of Biomarkers and Echocardiography in Prediction of Prognosis of Chronic Heart Failure Patients

The Bio-SHiFT study aims to investigate whether disease progression in individual patients with chronic heart failure (CHF) can be accurately assessed by serial measurements of disease-related (novel) biomarkers. Secondary objectives of the study include comparison of 2D- with real-time 3D-echocardiography in CHF patients and comparison of Speckle tracking with tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) in CHF patients, and relating these echocardiographic measurements to clinical outcome. Bio-SHiFT is a prospective, observational, multi-center, cohort study in men and women, aged 18 years or older, visiting the outpatient clinic. Blood samples are taken at the day of inclusion and at follow-up visits, which are performed every 3 months until the end of the scheduled follow-up. Clinical data are collected at baseline and at each 3-month follow-up visit. Echocardiography including TDI, Speckle tracking and 3D-echocardiography is performed in a subset of patients, at baseline and during follow-up at 6-month intervals. The primary endpoint is the composite of cardiovascular death, cardiac transplantation, left ventricular assist device implantation, and re-hospitalization for the management of acute or worsened heart failure.