Relationship between pre-implant ejection fraction and outcome after cardiac resynchronization therapy in symptomatic patients

A. Schuchert; C. Muto; T. Maounis; R.O. Ella; A. Polauck; L. Padeletti

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Document Details :

Title: Relationship between pre-implant ejection fraction and outcome after cardiac resynchronization therapy in symptomatic patients
Author(s): A. Schuchert , C. Muto , T. Maounis , R.O. Ella , A. Polauck , L. Padeletti
Journal: Acta Cardiologica
Volume: 69 Issue: 4 Date: 2014
Pages: 424-432
DOI: 10.2143/AC.69.4.3036659

Abstract :
Background: Left-ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) is regarded as a strong predictor for morbidity and mortality in heart failure patients. The aim of the analysis was to assess the relationship between pre-implant LVEF and outcome of patients with advanced heart failure who received cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT).
Methods: We analysed the two-year follow-up of 366 patients who had been enrolled in the MASCOT study which included NYHA class III/IV patients with a class I CRT indication. Pre-implant LVEF was stratified by tertile.
Results: The boundaries for pre-implant LVEF were < 22% (n = 128; 18.2 ± 3.1%; T^low), 22% to 28% (n = 121; 25.4 ± 1.4%; T^middle) and > 28% (n = 117; 32.6 ± 3.9%; T^high) for each tertile. Two-year post-implant LVEF was 32.0 ± 11.5% (T^low), 33.7 ± 10.8% (T^middle) and 36.4 ± 9.9% (T^high). T^low had a greater increase between pre- and post-implant LVEF compared to T^middle (P = 0.03) and T^high (P = 0.0001). NYHA class improved similarly among the three groups as well as the quality of life score. No significant differences were detected between the three groups for all-cause mortality, cardiac death, all-cause hospitalization, and hospitalization due to worsening heart failure.
Conclusions: Symptomatic heart failure patients with a wide QRS complex and a severe impaired LV function had a better improvement of their pre-implant LVEF than patients with a more preserved LVEF. This may be one reason that in these patient groups long-term morbidity and mortality were not related to their pre-implant LVEF. Pre-implant LVEF was in symptomatic CRT patients not predictive for their long-term cardiovascular morbidity and mortality.