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In patients with systolic heart failure and a QRS duration of less than 130 msec, CRT does not reduce the rate of death or hospitalization for heart failure and may increase mortality. (Funded by Biotronik and GE Healthcare; EchoCRT ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00683696.).

Cardiac resynchronization significantly improved LV function and reversed LV remodeling during long-term follow-up. Patients likely to benefit from CRT can be identified by TDI before implantation of a biventricular pacemaker.

Background-Cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) by means of simultaneous biventricular pacing improves left ventricular systolic performance and synchrony in patients with heart failure and bundle-branch block. We used tissue tracking and 3D echocardiography to evaluate the impact of sequential CRT with individualized interventricular delay programming. Methods and Results-Twenty consecutive patients with severe heart failure and left bundle-branch block were included.Tissue tracking and 3D echocardiography were carried out before and on the day after pacemaker implantation. Eleven different interventricular delays were examined in each patient.

Assessment of GLS using a semiautomated algorithm provides important prognostic information in patients with LVEFs >40% above and beyond traditional indexes of high-risk MI.

Background-Tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) detects left ventricular dysfunction in patients with heart failure and normal ejection fraction, but the prognostic significance of left ventricular dysfunction by TDI in the general population is unknown. Methods and Results-Within the Copenhagen City Heart Study, a large community-based population study, cardiac function was evaluated in 1036 participants by both conventional echocardiography and TDI. Averages of peak systolic (sЈ), early diastolic (eЈ), and late diastolic (aЈ) velocities from 6 mitral annular sites were used. TDI was furthermore quantified by a combined index (eas index) of diastolic and systolic performance: eЈ/(aЈϫsЈ). During follow-up (median, 5.3 years), 90 participants died. Left ventricular dysfunction by TDI, in terms of low sЈ (hazard ratio, 1.23 per 1-cm/s decrease; PϽ0.05) and aЈ (hazard ratio, 1.20 per 1-cm/s decrease; Pϭ0.001), were significant predictors of death in Cox proportional-hazards models adjusted for clinical variables (age, sex, body mass index, heart rate, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and ischemic heart disease) and conventional echocardiography. The adjusted hazard ratio for death in the third tertile compared with the first tertile of the combined index of systolic and diastolic performance by TDI was 2.5 (PϽ0.005). Conclusions-In

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Aims The present study had two aims: (i) compare echocardiographic parameters in COVID-19 patients with matched controls and (2) assess the prognostic value of measures of left (LV) and right ventricular (RV) function in relation to COVID-19 related death. Methods and results In this prospective multicentre cohort study, 214 consecutive hospitalized COVID-19 patients underwent an echocardiographic examination (by predetermined research protocol). All participants were successfully matched 1:1 with controls from the general population on age, sex, and hypertension. Mean age of the study sample was 69 years, and 55% were male participants. LV and RV systolic function was significantly reduced in COVID-19 cases as assessed by global longitudinal strain (GLS) (16.4% ± 4.3 vs. 18.5% ± 3.0, P < 0.001), tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion (TAPSE) (2.0 ± 0.4 vs. 2.6 ± 0.5, P < 0.001), and RV strain (19.8 ± 5.9 vs. 24.2 ± 6.5, P = 0.004). All parameters remained significantly reduced after adjusting for important cardiac risk factors. During follow-up (median: 40 days), 25 COVID-19 cases died. In multivariable Cox regression reduced TAPSE [hazard ratio (HR) = 1.18, 95% confidence interval (CI) [1.07-1.31], P = 0.002, per 1 mm decrease], RV strain (HR = 1.64, 95%CI[1.02;2.66], P = 0.043, per 1% decrease) and GLS (HR = 1.20, 95%CI[1.07-1.35], P = 0.002, per 1% decrease) were significantly associated with COVID-19-related death. TAPSE and GLS remained significantly associated with the outcome after restricting the analysis to patients without prevalent heart disease. Conclusions RV and LV function are significantly impaired in hospitalized COVID-19 patients compared with matched controls. Furthermore, reduced TAPSE and GLS are independently associated with COVID-19-related death.