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Resynchronisation therapy in heart failure: searching for predictors

Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA

Correspondence to:
William T Abraham, MD, The Ohio State University Heart Center, 473 West 12th Avenue, Room 110P DHLRI, Columbus, OH 43210-1252, USA; William.Abraham@osumc.edu

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Cardiac resynchronisation therapy (CRT) has been gaining clinical application. However, prospective identification of responders or non-responders to this therapy is still challenging.

Over the past decade, significant progress has been made in understanding the deleterious effects of ventricular dysynchrony in patients with congestive heart failure (CHF). Randomised controlled clinical trials have demonstrated that CRT improves clinical symptoms and left ventricular (LV) function, and reduces morbidity and mortality in patients with moderate to severe CHF (New York Heart Association Functional Class III-IV).^1–4 However, up to one-third of patients may not respond fully to CRT.

LEFT VENTRICULAR DYSYNCHRONY
Synchrony of heart contraction is important because it is effective and energetically efficient. Left bundle branch block, a common form of "electrophysiological abnormality" in heart failure, can result in three mechanical problems: 1) abnormal left atrioventricular timing, 2) delayed intraventricular timing, and 3) delayed interventricular timing. The net result is a decline in systolic function with reduced . . . [Full text of this article]

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