Both twisting and untwisting motions are increased in patients with AL systemic amyloidosis with no evidence of cardiac involvement while they are reduced in patients with evident amyloidosis cardiac involvement. This finding suggests that impaired LV relaxation induces a compensatory mechanism in the early phase of the disease, which fails in more advanced stage when both twisting and untwisting rates are reduced. The increase in LV rotational mechanics could be a marker of subclinical cardiac involvement.

Background: The beneficial effects of cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) on left ventricular (LV) remodeling have been extensively described. Few data are available about the effects of CRT on right ventricular (RV) function and remodeling. Hypothesis: We hypothesized that CRT could also induce reverse remodeling in the right ventricle and that RV baseline functional status expressed as tricuspidal annular plane systolic excursion (TAPSE) could affect CRT response. Methods: Echocardiographic investigation was performed before and 6 months after CRT. In 192 patients, TAPSE, LV, and RV dimensions with functional parameters and LV dyssynchrony index were evaluated. Results: At 6 months' follow-up, 86 patients (45%) were responders to CRT according to at least 15% LV endsystolic volume reduction. Among baseline echocardiographic parameters, responders had significantly lower TAPSE, larger LV volumes, and higher LV dyssynchrony index. In responders, LV volume reduction, ejection fraction increase, and mitral regurgitation improvement were associated with RV dimensions reduction, increased TAPSE, and improved LV dyssynchrony. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis showed that TAPSE, at 17 mm optimal cutoff, yielded 64% sensitivity and 60% specificity in predicting CRT response; similarly, LV dyssynchrony index, at 41.25 ms optimal cutoff, predicted CRT response with 60% sensitivity and 62% specificity. A subgroup analysis demonstrated that the coexistence of high TAPSE and high dyssynchrony index values increased probability of CRT response. Conclusions: Our results show that CRT induces RV and LV reverse remodeling and that CRT patient selection can be improved by simply measuring TAPSE value. IntroductionCongestive heart failure (CHF) is a major disorder associated with poor quality of life and high mortality. 1 At present, cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) is a new, well-established therapeutic strategy for patients with drugrefractory symptoms, advanced left ventricular (LV) systolic dysfunction, and wide QRS. 2 -7 However, because it was primarily developed to improve function and synchronism of the LV, the effects of CRT on right ventricular (RV) function have not been fully examined.The importance of the right ventricle has often been underestimated; it was long considered mainly as a conduit and the importance of its contractile performance was undervalued. Nowadays, few data are available about the effects of CRT on RV function and remodeling. 8 -10 Moreover, data about the relationship between baseline RV functional status and long-term LV reverse remodeling

The SHFM successfully stratifies HF patients on CRT/CRT-D and can be reliably applied to help clinicians in predicting survival in this clinical setting.

Our results show that amyloidosis and systemic hypertension produce both LV twist and untwist rate enhancement before LV hypertrophy is developed. In patients with amyloidosis irrespectively of LV infiltration degree, a significant LV untwisting rate peak delay occurs suggesting that different aetiology of cardiac involvement could differently affect LV untwisting rate.

An optimal acute response to CRT can be obtained by positioning the LV lead at the site associated with the maximum RV-to-LV conduction time. A significant correlation appears to exist between RV-to-LV conduction time and the improvement in systolic function with CRT.

Our study demonstrates that routine use of EXPORT catheter in patients with STEMI and coronary thrombosis is feasible, safe, and associated with significant improvements in flow-related angiographic parameters. The relative simplicity of this approach makes it an attractive option in this challenging situation.

Our results show that MIAD plays the main role in determining the optimal AV delay, thus caution should be taken when optimizing AV by IEGM-based methods.

Smoking is associated with increased morbidity and mortality in cardiac patients. However, data on the prognostic impact of smoking in heart failure (HF) patients on cardiac resynchronization therapy with defibrillator (CRT-D) are absent. We investigated the effects of smoking on all-cause mortality and on a composite endpoint (all-cause death/appropriate device therapy), appropriate and inappropriate device therapy, in 649 patients with HF who underwent CRT-D between January 2003 and October 2011 in 6 Centers (4 in Italy and 2 in USA). 68 patients were current smokers, 396 previous-smokers (patients who had smoked in the past but who had quit before the CRT-D implant), and 185 had never smoked. The risk of each endpoint by smoking status was evaluated with both Kaplan-Meier and Cox proportional-hazard analysis. After adjusting for age, left ventricular ejection fraction, QRS width and ischemic etiology, both current and previous smoking were independent predictors of all-cause death [HR = 5.07 (95 % CI 2.68-9.58), p < 0.001 and HR = 2.43 (95 % CI 1.38-4.29), p = 0.002, respectively) and of composite endpoint [HR = 1.63 (1.04-2.56); p = 0.033 and HR = 1.46 (1.04-2.04) p = 0.027]. In addition, current smokers had a significantly higher rate of inappropriate device therapy compared to never smokers [HR = 21.74 (4.53-104.25), p = 0.005]. Our study indicates that in patients with HF who received a CRT-D device, current and previous smoking increase the event rate per person-time of death and of appropriate and inappropriate ICD therapy more than other known negative prognostic factors such as age, left ventricular dysfunction, prolonged QRS duration and ischemic etiology.