This article appears in the following Europace issue: Spotlight Issue: Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy [View the issue table of contents]
What is treatment success in cardiac resynchronization therapy?
Centre for Cardiovascular Sciences, University of Birmingham, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Edgbaston, Birmingham, UK
Cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) is an established treatment for symptomatic patients with heart failure, a prolonged QRS duration, and impaired left ventricular (LV) function. Identification of responders and non-responders to CRT has attracted considerable attention. The response to CRT can be measured in terms of symptomatic response or clinical outcome, or both. Alternatively, the response to CRT can be measured in terms of changes in surrogate measures of outcome, such as LV volumes, LV ejection fraction, invasive measures of cardiac performance, peak oxygen uptake, and neurohormones. This review explores whether these measures can be used in assessing the symptomatic and prognostic response to CRT. The role of these parameters to the management of individual patients is also discussed.
Key Words: Cardiac resynchronization therapy, Mortality, Responders
* Corresponding author. Department of Cardiology, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham B15 2TH, UK. Tel: +44 121 472 1311. Email: cardiologists{at}hotmail.com