C-MIC II: Cardiac microcurrent therapy in HFrEF

Cardiac microcurrent (C-MIC) therapy was associated with improvements in left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), NYHA functional class, patient-reported health status, and quality-of-life in patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF).

“The C-MIC device that was tested in the randomised, prospective, open comparison C-MIC II trial (NCT04662034) aimed to restore the heart’s endogenous electrical gradients, which are essential for tissue healing and organ function,” explained Dr Stefan Anker (University Medicine Göttingen, Germany) [1]. “The disrupted electrical fields and impaired lymphatic drainage in HF may contribute to myocardial oedema and LV dysfunction.” The investigators randomised 65 patients with HFrEF and a NYHA functional class of III–IV 1:1 to C-MIC plus guideline-directed medical therapy (GDMT) or to GDMT alone. The primary endpoint was the change in LVEF from baseline to 6 months.

At 6 months of follow-up, participants in the device arm had an improved LVEF of 5.1% compared with the control group (95% CI 3.1–7.1; P<0.001). Furthermore, Dr Anker noted that participants in the device arm were more likely to achieve an improvement of more than 1 class in NYHA functional class (81.3% vs 12.5%) and that those in the experimental arm more frequently achieved an improvement in 6-minute walk distance of at least 30% (64.5% vs 29.0%; P=0.0017). “Patients in the device arm walked on average 144.7 meters further and improved by 40.7 points in the Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire Overall Summary Score [KCCQ-OSS] compared with patients in the control arm,” said Dr Anker. “I have never seen such remarkable results, and we surely need to confirm these findings in a sham-controlled trial.” Since the current study was an open-label, albeit randomised study, the results may be overly optimistic. Finally, no safety signals were observed that were deemed related to the device.

“Although we need larger blinded studies with long-term outcomes, C-MIC represents a promising, non-pharmacologic therapeutic option for patients with HFrEF,” concluded Dr Anker

1. Anker SD, et al. Cardiac-microcurrent treatment of heart failure with reduced ejection fraction: results from the C-MIC II randomised controlled trial. Late-breaking clinical trials in chronic heart failure, Heart Failure 2025, 17–20 May, Belgrade, Serbia.

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Posted on 17 July 202521 July 2025