CVRx Barostim Demonstrates Reduction in Health Care Use in Real-World Data

February 12, 2025—CVRx, Inc. announced new real-world evidence demonstrating that use of the company’s Barostim implant was associated with large, statistically significant reductions in health care use, including reductions in hospital visits (ie, hospitalization and emergency department visits) and length of stay after implantation.

The data were presented at the recent Technology and Heart Failure Therapeutics (THT) conference in Boston, Massachusetts, and published simultaneously online in Journal of Cardiac Failure.

The Barostim system uses neuromodulation to improve heart failure symptoms via an implantable device that delivers electrical pulses to baroreceptors located in the wall of the carotid artery, reported the company. Baroreceptors activate the body’s baroreflex, triggering an autonomic response to the heart. The therapy is designed to restore balance to the autonomic nervous system and thereby reduce the symptoms of heart failure.

As noted in the company’s press release, an analysis was performed using data from the Premier Healthcare Database, including 306 Barostim patients. The study compared the 12 months before Barostim implantation and for an average of 2 years postimplantation.

Compared to preimplantation, the period postimplantation with Barostim saw an 86% reduction in all-cause hospital visits (P < .0001), 84% reduction in cardiovascular hospital visits (P < .0001), and 85% reduction in heart-failure hospital visits (P < .0001). Length of stay was also significantly reduced, reported the company.

“Despite contemporary medications, the clinical and economic burden of heart failure remains unacceptably high. This new study showing significant reductions in real-world health care utilization associated with the Barostim implant is critically important for clinicians and payers when considering this device for their patients,” remarked Jacob Abraham, MD, Section Head of Advanced Heart Failure at Providence Heart Institute in Portland, Oregon, in the press release. “While we know Barostim plus medications demonstrates long-term improvements in symptoms and quality of life, we now have compelling real-world evidence supporting a significant reduction in health care utilization as well.”

Barostim is FDA-approved for use in heart failure patients and has CE Mark approval for heart failure and resistant hypertension.