BACKGROUND: RV pacing induces conduction delay (CD), mechanical dyssynchrony, and increased morbidity in patients with HF. CRT improves HF symptoms and survival, but sparse data exist on its direct effect on chronically RV-paced HF patients. OBJECTIVES: To assess the benefit of cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) in chronically right ventricle (RV)-paced heart failure (HF) patients. METHODS: We studied 12 consecutive patients with class III HF who had a previously implanted pacemaker or implantable cardioverter-defibrillator. These individuals were chronically RV paced and referred for upgrade to a biventricular device by their primary cardiologists. Tissue Doppler and strain rate imaging (TDI and SRI, respectively) were performed immediately before each upgrade and 4-6 weeks afterward to quantify changes in regional wall motion and synchrony with CRT. RESULTS: CRT significantly reduced the mean QRS duration (205 ms to 156 ms; P<.0001), and it increased the ejection fraction (30.7%+/-5.1% to 35.8%+/-5.1%; P<.01). Left ventricular end-systolic and end-diastolic dimensions were also significantly reduced. Clinically, patients improved by an average of one New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional class after upgrade (P = .006). The parameter exhibiting greatest improvement was the coefficient of variation (CoV: standard deviation/mean) of time to peak systolic strain rate, a marker of ventricular dyssynchrony, which decreased from 34.3%+/-13.0% to 19.0%+/-6.6% (P<.01). Reduction in CoV of time to peak systolic strain rate was maximally seen in the midventricle (38.2%+/-19.6% to 16.5%+/-9.7%; P<.01). CONCLUSIONS: Upgrading chronically RV-paced HF patients to CRT improves global and regional systolic function. TDI and SRI provide compelling evidence that this benefit parallels that seen in HF patients with CD unrelated to RV pacing, which implies that biventricular pacing synchronizes mechanical activation in different myocardial regions in patients upgraded from RV pacing as well.
BACKGROUND: RV pacing induces conduction delay (CD), mechanical dyssynchrony, and increased morbidity in patients with HF. CRT improves HF symptoms and survival, but sparse data exist on its direct effect on chronically RV-paced HF patients. OBJECTIVES: To assess the benefit of cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) in chronically right ventricle (RV)-paced heart failure (HF) patients. METHODS: We studied 12 consecutive patients with class III HF who had a previously implanted pacemaker or implantable cardioverter-defibrillator. These individuals were chronically RV paced and referred for upgrade to a biventricular device by their primary cardiologists. Tissue Doppler and strain rate imaging (TDI and SRI, respectively) were performed immediately before each upgrade and 4-6 weeks afterward to quantify changes in regional wall motion and synchrony with CRT. RESULTS: CRT significantly reduced the mean QRS duration (205 ms to 156 ms; P<.0001), and it increased the ejection fraction (30.7%+/-5.1% to 35.8%+/-5.1%; P<.01). Left ventricular end-systolic and end-diastolic dimensions were also significantly reduced. Clinically, patients improved by an average of one New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional class after upgrade (P = .006). The parameter exhibiting greatest improvement was the coefficient of variation (CoV: standard deviation/mean) of time to peak systolic strain rate, a marker of ventricular dyssynchrony, which decreased from 34.3%+/-13.0% to 19.0%+/-6.6% (P<.01). Reduction in CoV of time to peak systolic strain rate was maximally seen in the midventricle (38.2%+/-19.6% to 16.5%+/-9.7%; P<.01). CONCLUSIONS: Upgrading chronically RV-paced HF patients to CRT improves global and regional systolic function. TDI and SRI provide compelling evidence that this benefit parallels that seen in HF patients with CD unrelated to RV pacing, which implies that biventricular pacing synchronizes mechanical activation in different myocardial regions in patients upgraded from RV pacing as well.
Authors: Robert A Levine; Albert A Hagége; Daniel P Judge; Muralidhar Padala; Jacob P Dal-Bianco; Elena Aikawa; Jonathan Beaudoin; Joyce Bischoff; Nabila Bouatia-Naji; Patrick Bruneval; Jonathan T Butcher; Alain Carpentier; Miguel Chaput; Adrian H Chester; Catherine Clusel; Francesca N Delling; Harry C Dietz; Christian Dina; Ronen Durst; Leticia Fernandez-Friera; Mark D Handschumacher; Morten O Jensen; Xavier P Jeunemaitre; Hervé Le Marec; Thierry Le Tourneau; Roger R Markwald; Jean Mérot; Emmanuel Messas; David P Milan; Tui Neri; Russell A Norris; David Peal; Maelle Perrocheau; Vincent Probst; Michael Pucéat; Nadia Rosenthal; Jorge Solis; Jean-Jacques Schott; Ehud Schwammenthal; Susan A Slaugenhaupt; Jae-Kwan Song; Magdi H Yacoub Journal: Nat Rev Cardiol Date: 2015-10-20 Impact factor: 32.419
Authors: Ian P Clements; Stuart Christenson; David O Hodge; Brian P Mullan; Margaret M Redfield; David L Hayes Journal: J Nucl Cardiol Date: 2010-12-03 Impact factor: 5.952
Authors: Quynh A Truong; Jagmeet P Singh; Christopher P Cannon; Ammar Sarwar; Khurram Nasir; Angelo Auricchio; Francesco F Faletra; Antonio Sorgente; Cristina Conca; Tiziano Moccetti; Mark Handschumacher; Thomas J Brady; Udo Hoffmann Journal: JACC Cardiovasc Imaging Date: 2008-11
Authors: John Rickard; Alan Cheng; David Spragg; Daniel Cantillon; Mina K Chung; W H Wilson Tang; Bruce L Wilkoff; Niraj Varma Journal: Heart Rhythm Date: 2012-09-18 Impact factor: 6.343