ReDS Testing for Congestive Heart Failure in Elizabethtown, KY

Common signs and symptoms of heart failure include fatigue, most commonly are shortness of breath, swelling. Some patients may have low blood pressure, decreased perfusion to their organs, and that can lead to things like kidney failure, depending on the severity. We manage patients' symptoms closely. We help monitor their labs, their vital signs, make sure if they're having any issues with fluid buildup, identify that quickly.

Sometimes identifying if patients are fluid overloaded can be difficult, so we use the ReDS device. It gives us a real time percentage of lung congestion and that can help guide treatment as far as medication management and it helps improve patient outcomes and reduce hospitalizations. ReDS stands for remote dielectric sensing. The REDS device uses two sensors, one's placed on the front of the chest and one's placed on the back of the chest and radio frequency waves are used to measure congestion within the lungs.

The REDS assessment takes place in the office. The registered nurse will place the device on the patient. It is placed over the right chest. Overall, it takes about forty five seconds for a result.

The ReDS device gives us an absolute and accurate percentage of the congestion that is present in the lungs. If the patient is fluid overloaded, it's important to make medication changes and to make them quickly to prevent worsening of fluid buildup and subsequent hospitalizations.