CardioExchange Archive

May 12th, 2013

How Should Recent Trials Affect CRT Practice?

Sana M Al-Khatib, MD, MHS and John Ryan, MD

In recent weeks the cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) field has been absorbing the publication of the BLOCK HF trial in the New England Journal of Medicine and the publication of the NARROW-CRT trial in Circulation: Arrhythmia and Electrophysiology. These trials raised the possibility that CRT may improve clinical status in some patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy […]

---

April 26th, 2013

Conflicting Results from Two Trials of Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy

Larry Husten, PHD

Two new trials have ended up reporting conflicting results regarding the expansion of the indication for cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) for patients without a wide QRS interval.  The positive results of the smaller trial seem likely to be undermined by the early stopping of the much larger trial. The first trial, NARROW-CRT, published in Circulation: Arrhythmia […]

---

September 11th, 2012

Updated Rhythm Device Guidelines Clarify and Expand CRT Criteria

Larry Husten, PHD

A newly released update of 2008 guidelines for device-based therapy of cardiac arrhythmias contains some much-needed clarification about indications for cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT). The document was developed jointly by the American Heart Association, the American College of Cardiology, and the Heart Rhythm Society. Highlights of the documents include: The Class 1 recommendation for CRT for patients with […]

---

June 14th, 2011

CRT for HF Patients with Moderately Prolonged QRS Interval: Unethical?

Larry Husten, PHD

Approximately 40% of cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) devices are implanted in patients with QRS intervals below 150 msecs, but a meta-analysis published in Archives in Internal Medicine finds that these patients may not benefit from the device. Ilke Sipahi and colleagues performed a meta-analysis that included five CRT clinical trials (COMPANION, CARE-HF, REVERSE, MADIT-CRT, RAFT) with […]

---