The AF–Heart Failure Continuum

Atrial fibrillation and heart failure are usually treated as separate diagnoses. The clinical evidence says otherwise. They share hemodynamic drivers, accelerate each other's progression, and frequently coexist in the same patient — often with one condition masking the onset of the other.

Data from STROKESTOP and STROKESTOP II quantify the risk: roughly one in five patients with screening-detected AF develops heart failure within six months, a greater-than-threefold increase compared to matched patients without AF. That risk is equivalent to clinically diagnosed AF — meaning the AF detected incidentally on a screening ECG carries the same downstream hazard as the AF a cardiologist already knows about.

Screening finds the signal. It doesn't manage the trajectory.

The problem isn't detection — AF screening tools are effective and increasingly available. The problem is what happens after a positive screen. Traditional care pathways are episodic, with follow-up visits spaced three to six months apart. They're fragmented, with cardiology and primary care operating in separate workflows. And they're reactive, waiting for symptoms or a hospitalization before escalating care. A patient screened positive for AF in January may not see anyone again until July — well past the six-month window where the steepest deterioration occurs.

From screening event to continuous execution

SYNC-PREVENT™ — Proactive Risk Evaluation, Vital Early Notification Tracking — transforms screening into clinical execution by integrating in-office diagnostic testing, longitudinal physiological monitoring, organized multi-source patient data presented to support physician review, and closed-loop physician coordination. It begins in the physician's office: digital ECG data collection, cardiac auscultation findings from the physician's own examination, and Vivio LVEDP measurement — hemodynamic pressure data collected and transmitted to the treating physician for clinical interpretation. These assessments provide objective physiological data to support the treating physician in establishing a baseline clinical picture as part of their overall plan of care.

Once AF is identified by the treating physician, SYNC-PREVENT™ supports ongoing patient monitoring through structured physiological data collection: daily biometric data — blood pressure, heart rate, weight, and rhythm readings — transmitted to the care team for physician review of trends in hemodynamic parameters, patterns in fluid-related measurements, and blood pressure variability over time. The platform aggregates and organizes data from multiple sources for care team review — biomarker measurements, remote monitoring device readings, medication adherence records, comorbidity documentation, and EHR interoperability feeds — an organized data display that supports the treating physician in reviewing changes in patient status across monitoring periods and relevant findings across cardiac, renal, and metabolic data categories.

That cross-category view matters here: clinical literature indicates that a significant proportion of AFib patients also present with concurrent cardiac conditions that are not yet symptomatic at the time of AFib identification — underscoring the value of longitudinal, multi-biomarker data collection in supporting comprehensive physician oversight.

“Screening identifies risk. SYNC-PREVENT™ equips the physician with the organized data and structured workflows needed to act on it.”

Longitudinal biometric data is transmitted to the care team, supporting the physician's ongoing review of patient status between clinical encounters. Trained coordinators — people, not software — review that data against physician-established parameters, and structured escalation pathways connect the care team to the treating physician when collected data falls outside those parameters — not monthly summaries after the fact. Coordination spans cardiology, primary care, and electrophysiology through a single monitoring record. RPM collects data; SYNC-PREVENT™ delivers it to the care team in a structured format that supports the physician's clinical decision-making — while it's still hemodynamic drift, not after it becomes a hospitalization.