Multidisciplinary Ventricular Assist Device Clinic

Not Applicable

• Conditions: Heart Failure
• Interventions: Other: Multidisciplinary team clinic and assessments (Cardiopulmonary exercise test, six-minute-walk-test, MoCA, Quality of Life questionnaires); Behavioral: Caregiver Self-Assessment

• Registration Number: NCT05388019
• Lead Sponsor: Massachusetts General Hospital

Brief Summary

Current standard of care for ventricular-assist device (VAD) patients is composed of a multidisciplinary team (MDT), which is required in pre-implant and implant hospitalization care but is lacking in post-implant care. Post-implant care is currently centered around the avoidance of complications of VAD support, including cerebrovascular insult (CVA/TIA), gastrointestinal bleeding and infection. Despite major improvements in survival for VAD patients, quality of life and physical functioning measures have not seen significant improvements.

This study will include two prospective interventional cohorts and a retrospective control cohort. The first prospective interventional cohort will consist of patients who recently underwent LVAD implantation at Massachusetts General Hospital, and their caregivers. These patients will receive only multidisciplinary team care from the time of their implant. The second prospective interventional cohort will consist of patients who have previously undergone LVAD implantation at Massachusetts General Hospital who are being followed-up with standard-of-care VAD clinic visits, and their caregivers. These patients will receive a hybrid of multidisciplinary team care and standard-of-care visits. The historical control cohort will consist of retrospective data collection on patients who have undergone LVAD implantation in the past and no longer have an LVAD implanted (due to transplant, death, explant, etc.), and will be matched with the prospective interventional patients. The purpose of this study is to characterize the impact of routine MDT care on health-related quality of life, caregiver burnout and functional capacity of outpatient VAD patients, and to determine if implementation of MDT care is associated with a reduction in complications and readmissions in VAD patients at one- and two-years post implant. The investigators hypothesize that the MDT clinic model in addition to standard of care VAD management will positively impact the quality of life and functional status of VAD patients.

Subjects who consent to this study will be seen by the MDT providers and complete Cardiopulmonary Exercise Tests (CPET), six-minute-walk-tests, and quality of life questionnaires. The primary caregivers of these subjects will complete a Caregiver Self-Assessment at two timepoints. We anticipate to enroll 20 newly-implanted VAD patients in the pure-MDT arm, 35 pre-existing VAD patients in hybrid-MDT/SOC arm, and 55 primary caregivers.

Detailed Description

The current standard of care for ventricular-assist device (VAD) patients is composed of a multidisciplinary team (MDT), which is a mandated practice in the pre-implant and implant hospitalization phase of care. Each member of the MDT (surgeon, cardiologist, VAD coordinator, physical therapist, occupational therapist, social worker, and palliative care specialist) provides unique and orthogonal data. Post-implant care is currently centered around the avoidance of complications of VAD support, including cerebrovascular insult (CVA/TIA), gastrointestinal bleeding and infection. Although patients are referred to cardiac rehabilitation post VAD implant, assessment of functional capacity improvement post-implant is not well standardized. In our program, PT, OT, SW and palliative care medicine do not routinely see patients at intervals post-implant and are available in a limited fashion if specific concerns arise.

Prior studies have shown that MDT care in VAD patients improves survival in an in-patient setting and proves to be feasible and effective in other disease processes. Despite major improvements in survival for VAD patients however, quality of life and physical functioning measures have not seen significant improvements. Since there is a clinical need to examine post-implant treatment, this study aims to characterize the impact of routine MDT care on health-related quality of life, caregiver burnout and functional capacity of outpatient VAD patients, and to determine if implementation of MDT care is associated with a reduction in complications and readmissions in VAD patients at one- and two-years post implant.

This study will include two prospective interventional cohorts and a retrospective control cohort. The first prospective interventional cohort will consist of patients who recently underwent LVAD implantation at Massachusetts General Hospital, and their caregivers. These patients will receive only multidisciplinary team care from the time of their implant. The second prospective interventional cohort will consist of patients who have previously undergone LVAD implantation at Massachusetts General Hospital who are being followed-up with standard-of-care VAD clinic visits, and their caregivers. These patients will receive a hybrid of multidisciplinary team care and standard-of-care visits. The historical control cohort will consist of retrospective data collection on patients who have undergone LVAD implantation in the past and no longer have an LVAD implanted (due to transplant, death, explant, etc.). This group will be matched with the prospective interventional patients. The investigators hypothesize that the MDT clinic model in addition to standard of care VAD management will positively impact the quality of life and functional status of VAD patients. Future work will study readmission rates, medical complications, and overall survival difference between MultiVAD clinic care and usual care VAD clinics.

Subjects who consent to this study will be seen by the MDT providers and complete Cardiopulmonary Exercise Tests (CPET), six-minute-walk-tests, and quality of life questionnaires. Newly-implanted VAD subjects will participate over a 24-month period and previously-implanted VAD subjects will participate over a 12-month period. The primary caregivers of these subjects will complete a Caregiver Self-Assessment at two timepoints. We anticipate to enroll 20 newly-implanted VAD patients in the pure-MDT arm, 35 pre-existing VAD patients in hybrid-MDT/SOC arm, and 55 primary caregivers.

Study Timeline

• Status Verified: 2022-05
• Study Start: 2022-05
• Study First Submitted: 2022-05-11
• Study First Submitted QC: 2022-05-20
• Last Update Submitted: 2022-05-20
• Study First Posted: 2022-05-24
• Last Update Posted: 2022-05-24
• Primary Completion: 2024-05
• Study Completion: 2024-05

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: UNKNOWN
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 110

Inclusion Criteria

Not provided

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Exclusion Criteria

Not provided

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Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: SEQUENTIAL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Prospective interventional cohort of previously-implanted patients	Multidisciplinary team clinic and assessments (Cardiopulmonary exercise test, six-minute-walk-test, MoCA, Quality of Life questionnaires)	This cohort will consist of patients who have previously undergone LVAD implantation at Massachusetts General Hospital who are being followed-up with standard-of-care VAD clinic visits, and their caregivers. These patients will receive a hybrid of multidisciplinary team care and standard-of-care visits.
Prospective interventional cohort of newly-implanted patients	Multidisciplinary team clinic and assessments (Cardiopulmonary exercise test, six-minute-walk-test, MoCA, Quality of Life questionnaires)	This cohort will consist of patients who recently underwent LVAD implantation at Massachusetts General Hospital, and their caregivers. These patients will receive only multidisciplinary team care from the time of their implant.
Primary caregiver cohort	Caregiver Self-Assessment	This cohort will consist of primary caregivers of VAD patients from the two interventional cohorts. They will be administered a questionnaire at two timepoints. Each VAD patient will be associated with only one primary caregiver for the duration of the study.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
EuroQoL (EQ-5D and EuroVAS) to measure quality of life	Change from pre-implant up to 12 months post LVAD implantation	Survey administered by research coordinator
Blood pressure in mmHg during Cardiopulmonary Exercise Test	Change from pre-implant blood pressure at 12 months post LVAD implantation	Retrospective review in a patient chart.
Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire (KCCQ) to measure quality of life	Change from pre-implant up to 12 months post LVAD implantation	Survey administered by research coordinator
Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) to measure cognitive function	Change from pre-implant up to 12 months post LVAD implantation	Assessment administered by Occupational Therapist
Peak VO2 in mL/kg of body weight/min during Cardiopulmonary Exercise Test	Change from pre-implant peak VO2 at 12 months post LVAD implantation	Retrospective review in a patient chart.
Respiratory Exchange Ratio (RER) in % during Cardiopulmonary Exercise Test	Change from pre-implant RER at 12 months post LVAD implantation	Retrospective review in a patient chart.
Minute ventilation per carbon dioxide production (VE/VCO2) during Cardiopulmonary Exercise Test	Change from pre-implant VE/VCO2 at 12 months post LVAD implantation	Retrospective review in a patient chart.
Heart rate in beats per minute during Cardiopulmonary Exercise Test	Change from pre-implant heart rate at 12 months post LVAD implantation	Retrospective review in a patient chart.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Time to readmission in days	up to 24 months post-LVAD implantation	Retrospective review in a patient chart
Number of readmissions	up to 24 months post-LVAD implantation	Retrospective review in a patient chart
Number of VAD related complications	up to 24 months post-LVAD implantation	Retrospective review in a patient chart for GI bleed, CVA, heart failure, and infection

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Massachusetts General Hospital; 🇺🇸 Boston, Massachusetts, United States