Which Patients Respond to Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy?

In nearly every trial of cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT), only about two thirds of CRT recipients benefitted from the therapy. To inform the debate about what factors predict an echocardiographically measured response to CRT, researchers analyzed data from the 1761 patients in the MADIT-CRT trial who had complete echocardiographic information.

In the MADIT-CRT trial, 1820 patients with mild heart failure (HF), QRS durations ≥130 milliseconds, and LV ejection fractions ≤30% were randomized to receive an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator either with or without CRT. Overall, the primary composite endpoint of death or acute congestive HF was significantly lower in the CRT group than in the non-CRT group (JW Cardiol Sep 1 2009).

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