See page 599 for the editorial comment on this article (doi:10.1093/eurjhf/hfr058) AimsPrevious experimental and clinical studies have consistently suggested that right ventricular (RV) apical pacing has important adverse effects. Ventricular pacing (VP), however, is required, and cannot be reduced in many patients with atrioventricular (AV) block. The PREVENT-HF study was an international randomized trial that explored differences in left ventricular (LV) remodelling during RV apical vs. biventricular (BIV) pacing in patients with AV block. Methods and ResultsPatients with an expected VP prevalence ≥80% were assigned to RV apical or BIV pacing. The primary endpoint was the change in LV end-diastolic volume (EDV) .12 months. Secondary endpoints were LV end-systolic volume (ESV), LV ejection fraction (EF), mitral regurgitation (MR), and a combination of heart failure (HF) events and cardiovascular hospitalizations. Overall, 108 patients were randomized (RV: 58; BIV: 50). Intention to treat and on-treatment analyses revealed no significant differences in any of the outcomes. Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) difference for treatment according to randomization (in mL): LVEDV 23.92 (218.71 to 10.85), P ¼ 0.6; LVESV 21.38 (212.07 to 9.31), P ¼ 0.80; LVEF 2.47 (23.00 to 7.94), P ¼ 0.37. Analysis of covariance difference for the on-treatment analysis: LVEDV 24.90 (220.02 to 10.22, PP ¼ 0.52; LVESV 26.45 (217.28 to 4.38), P ¼ 0.24, LVEF 2.18 (23.37 to 7.73), P ¼ 0.44. Furthermore, secondary endpoints did not differ significantly. ConclusionThis study did not demonstrate significant LV volume differences .12 months between RV apical and BIV pacing for AV block. Thus, BIV pacing cannot be recommended as a routine treatment for AV block in these patients. However, the results encourage and inform the design of subsequent larger trials with higher power for detecting small volume changes. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00170326.--

Dynamic exercise could be directly associated with the severity of the phenotype in relation to the precocity of major ventricular arrhythmic events and right ventricular systolic dysfunction in patients with high-risk definite ARVC/D.

CRT can reduce moderate or severe baseline MR to non-significant in one-third of patients. However, its persistence was associated with worse clinical evolution, greater incidence of arrhythmic events, and less reverse remodelling.

This study provides first evidence that a strategy of multiple burst ATP sequences for termination of FVT episodes leads to a clinically meaningful reduction in the need for shocks.

Aims Atrial electrical remodelling (AER) is a transitional period associated with the progression and long-term maintenance of atrial fibrillation (AF). We aimed to study the progression of AER in individual patients with implantable devices and AF episodes. Methods and results Observational multicentre study (51 centres) including 4618 patients with implantable cardioverter-defibrillator +/−resynchronization therapy (ICD/CRT-D) and 352 patients (2 centres) with pacemakers (median follow-up: 3.4 years). Atrial activation rate (AAR) was quantified as the frequency of the dominant peak in the signal spectrum of AF episodes with atrial bipolar electrograms. Patients with complete progression of AER, from paroxysmal AF episodes to electrically remodelled persistent AF, were used to depict patient-specific AER slopes. A total of 34 712 AF tracings from 830 patients (87 with pacemakers) were suitable for the study. Complete progression of AER was documented in 216 patients (16 with pacemakers). Patients with persistent AF after completion of AER showed ∼30% faster AAR than patients with paroxysmal AF. The slope of AAR changes during AF progression revealed patient-specific patterns that correlated with the time-to-completion of AER (R2 = 0.85). Pacemaker patients were older than patients with ICD/CRT-Ds (78.3 vs. 67.2 year olds, respectively, P < 0.001) and had a shorter median time-to-completion of AER (24.9 vs. 93.5 days, respectively, P = 0.016). Remote transmissions in patients with ICD/CRT-D devices enabled the estimation of the time-to-completion of AER using the predicted slope of AAR changes from initiation to completion of electrical remodelling (R2 = 0.45). Conclusion The AF progression shows patient-specific patterns of AER, which can be estimated using available remote-monitoring technology.

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Wavelet discrimination criteria in single-chamber ICDs as the sole discriminator can significantly reduce inappropriate therapy for SVT, not only in the range of VTs in the slowest analysed range (340-500 ms for this study) but also for faster VTs. No significant clinical consequences were found when the algorithm was used, but final data should prompt the use of the algorithm in combination with a high rate time-out feature.