Up to 600-patient study at Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, Singapore, evaluates whether Acorai’s investigational handheld device can bring an objective heart failure assessment earlier in the emergency visit
HELSINGBORG, Sweden and SINGAPORE, 28 September 2026 – Acorai today announced the enrolment of the first patient in AHEAD-HF (Acorai Heart Failure Evaluation in the Emergency Department), a prospective observational study of its investigational SAVE Sensor System in patients presenting to the emergency department with suspected acute heart failure or unexplained breathlessness. The first patient was enrolled at Khoo Teck Puat Hospital (KTPH), part of NHG Health, under Principal Investigator Dr Ng Jian Hui.
The first hours matter
Breathlessness is among the most common reasons patients come to the emergency department, and distinguishing acute heart failure from its other causes is difficult. Natriuretic peptide testing and cardiac imaging help, but they take time to obtain and interpret, and treatment and admission decisions are often made before those results are in.
What AHEAD-HF is evaluating
AHEAD-HF will enrol up to 600 patients, each receiving a single five-minute recording with Acorai’s handheld device early in the emergency visit. The study addresses two primary questions – when an objective, non-invasive assessment becomes available relative to standard-of-care heart failure tests, and how accurately the device identifies adjudicated acute heart failure compared with standard-of-care assessment. Secondary analyses cover emergency department revisits, hospital admissions, ICU transfers and mortality up to 90 days, together with workflow, usability and health-economic outcomes.
“Breathless patients arrive in our emergency department every day, and the first hours of their care shape everything that follows. AHEAD-HF lets us study, without changing how we treat patients, whether a simple bedside recording taken at the front door could help us identify heart failure sooner and direct patients to the right care pathway.”
– Dr Ng Jian Hui, Principal Investigator, Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, Singapore
From the cath lab to the front door
AHEAD-HF extends Acorai’s clinical programme to the front door of the hospital, where most heart failure admissions begin. The CAPTURE-HF study showed a strong association between Acorai’s non-invasive estimates of elevated filling pressures and invasive right heart catheterization, and the ongoing 1,000-patient HOSP-HF study is evaluating congestion assessment during hospitalization and at discharge. AHEAD-HF brings the same measurement to the first clinical decision point.
“Emergency physicians make the fastest, highest-stakes heart failure decisions with the least objective hemodynamic information. AHEAD-HF is designed to show exactly where our device fits in that workflow – how early it delivers a reading and how accurately it identifies heart failure. We are grateful to Dr Ng Jian Hui, the KTPH team and the Centre for Healthcare Innovation in Singapore for their partnership and support.”
– Filip Peters, CEO, Acorai
AHEAD-HF is supported through CHISEL Healthcare InnoMatch 2025, organised by NHG Health’s Centre for Healthcare Innovation (CHI).
About Acorai
Acorai is dedicated to advancing non-invasive heart failure care by equipping clinicians with next-generation tools to improve patient outcomes. The company’s patented SAVE Sensor System is a pioneering multi-sensor platform designed to non-invasively estimate cardiac filling pressures, enabling more confident decision-making across the care continuum. Acorai has received FDA Breakthrough Device Designation and has studied its platform in over 2,000 patients. Supported by leading medtech investors and strategic partners, Acorai is committed to shaping the future of cardiac care through innovation in non-invasive monitoring.
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