Heart failure app to show pressure, medication changes

Clinical takeaway: Abbott plans to release the app and medication plans later this year. When they arrive, ask patients with a sensor about accessing the data and whether their care team has set a medication plan. 

Pulmonary artery pressure climbs as heart failure worsens, often weeks before patients feel shortness of breath or swelling. Clinicians who track it between visits are working ahead of symptoms, but the readings have stayed with the care team. 

A small sensor implanted in the pulmonary artery has let clinics monitor those pressures remotely for more than a decade, with patients taking readings at home. The sensor only measures pressure and delivers no treatment, so clinicians adjust medication from the readings. Its maker, Abbott, says more than 50,000 patients have the device implanted. An FDA approval of software updates to the sensor system, called CardioMEMS, now changes who sees the numbers and who acts on them. The updates extend the readings to patients' phones, though the release cites no outcome data for either new feature. 

The approval covers two software updates. The CardioGuide HF App will show patients with the sensor their own pressure readings and trends on an iOS or Android phone, with care teams deciding who gets access. 

The Dynamic Treatment Plan moves medication changes into the app. Clinicians set up adjustment plans tied to a patient's pressure changes, and once a plan is active, the app sends the instructions straight to the patient. The release does not say which medications or pressure thresholds a plan can use. 

Clinics will have to build the plans before any patient gets an instruction, since Dynamic Treatment Plans run through the portal care teams already use and only after a clinician turns it on. 

"Pulmonary artery pressure readings can help identify changes earlier, giving care teams an opportunity to adjust treatment before symptoms develop," said Andrew Sauer, MD, cardiologist and vice president for research at Saint Luke's Mid America Heart Institute. "By giving patients access to their pressure trends and personalized guidance from their care team, the CardioGuide HF App can help patients better understand their condition, understand why treatment adjustments are recommended, and take a more active role in managing their heart failure." 

Source: Abbott (2026 Oct 5) Abbott receives FDA approval for new CardioMEMS HF System capabilities that help patients engage in the care of their heart condition