Robby Wu, DO, assistant professor of medicine in the Morsani College of Medicine and advanced heart failure and transplant cardiologist for USF Health and Tampa General Hospital, joined the team in August of this year to help strengthen the growing heart failure program. “I did my advanced heart failure and transplant fellowship at USF Health and loved my experiences at TGH, so stayed on as faculty with USF Health,” Dr. Wu said.

Robby Wu, DO, advanced heart failure and transplant cardiologist for USF Health and Tampa General Hospital.

One of the procedures that Dr. Wu performs as an advanced heart failure and transplant cardiologist is the implantation of Abbott’s CardioMEMS™ HF System. This device is a remote monitoring platform that is FDA approved for wirelessly measuring and monitoring pulmonary artery pressure and heart rate in the New York Heart Association (NYHA) Class III heart failure patients who have been hospitalized for heart failure in the previous year. The catheter-based procedure through the right groin takes about 30-45 minutes and once the paper clip-sized, pressure-sensing device is implanted, the patient will use an at-home electronics unit to take daily pressure readings. This measurement process takes less than a minute and the hemodynamic data and real-time notifications sent to your physician can be used for heart failure management with the goal of reducing heart failure hospitalizations. Patients can also stay engaged with their care by using the myCardioMEMS™ app where they can keep track of their uploaded readings, set medication reminders, and talk directly with their care team.

The sensor, app and at-home electronics unit used to take the daily measurements. CardioMEMS is a trademark of Abbott or its related companies. Reproduced with permission of Abbott, © 2020. All rights reserved.

Normally, to measure pulmonary artery (PA) pressure, the patient would have to visit a clinic and have a “balloon catheter” inserted by a venous approach. Frequent visits would be time consuming and costly but monitoring the pressure of blood through the PA is critical for heart failure patients. “These hemodynamic changes occur earlier than clinical symptoms such as shortness of breath or leg swelling, so we can catch these changes and act on them before the patient gets into trouble,” Dr. Wu said.

When relying on a manual measuring system at a clinic, the patient is then left in the dark about their health when they’re not hooked up and so, with little ability to take preventative action, rehospitalization is more likely. According to a randomized controlled trial for wireless pulmonary artery haemodynamic monitoring in chronic heart failure referenced by Abbott, “each time you are hospitalized for heart failure, your heart is damaged, which may contribute to your heart failure getting worse.”¹

CardioMEMS is a trademark of Abbott or its related companies. Reproduced with permission of Abbott, © 2020. All rights reserved.

The CardioMEMS HF System was FDA approved in 2014 but was not commercially available to Florida until July of last year. Previously, Tampa General Hospital had been implanting the device on a research-only basis. “The system has been used in many other parts of the country with tremendous success,” Dr. Wu said. “The COVID pandemic has placed a larger emphasis on the critical need for remote monitoring devices and so clearance in Florida was expedited for this use.”

According to Abbott, this remote monitoring platform is the only one on the market that is clinically proven to aid physicians in preventing worsening heart failure,⁴ lowering mortality rates³ and improving quality of life.²

• 33% overall reduction in heart failure hospitalizations over an average of 18 months²
• 50% reduction in heart failure hospitalization for HFpEF patients over an average of 18 months⁵
• Shorter length or stay when patients are hospitalized¹
• 6% freedom from device or system related complications¹
• No pressure sensor failures¹
• Better patient quality of life as shown by significant improvements in Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire scores¹

Dr. Wu is passionate about patient-centered care, collaborative team management, and outcome driven protocols and USF Health is glad to have him on board and making life better for patients in the Tampa Bay community. “I am looking forward to the collaboration between USF and TGH and am excited to be a part of such a robust academic health system, Dr. Wu said. “I’m really proud to be working at the best cardiac hospital in Florida.”

Dr. Wu sees patients at USF Health Morsani Center for Advanced Healthcare and USF Health South Tampa Center for Advanced Healthcare (STC). To schedule an appointment, call 813-259-0600.

REFERENCES

1. Abraham, W. T., Adamson, P. B., Bourge, R. C., Aaron, M. F., Costanzo, M. R., Stevenson, L. W., … Yaday, J. S. (2011). Wireless pulmonary artery haemodynamic monitoring in chronic heart failure: A randomized controlled trial. The Lancet, 377(9766), 658-666. n=550. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(11)60101-3
2. Abraham, W. T., Stevenson, L., Bourge, R. C., Lindenfled, J., Bauman, J., & Adamson, P. B. (2016). Sustained efficacy of pulmonary artery pressure to guide to adjustment of chronic heart failure therapy: Complete follow-up results from the CHAMPION randomized trial. The Lancet, 387(10017), 453-461. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(15)007233-0

1. Abraham J, et al. Association of Ambulatory Hemodynamic Monitoring with Clinical Outcomes in a Concurrent Matched Cohort Analysis. JAMA Cardiology. 2019; 4(6):556-563.
2. Adamson PB. Pathophysiology of the transition from chronic compensated and acute decompensated heart failure: new insights from continuous monitoring devices. Current Heart Failure Reports. 2009; 6:287-292.

5. Adamson, P. B., Abraham, W. T., Bourge, R. C., Costanzo, M. R., Hasan, A. H., Yadav, C., … Stevenson, L. W. (2014). Wireless pulmonary artery pressure monitoring guides management to reduce decompensation in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction. Circulation: Heart Failure, 7(6), 935-944.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1161/circheartfailure.113.001229