No abstract

Biventricular pacing was superior to conventional right ventricular pacing in patients with atrioventricular block and left ventricular systolic dysfunction with NYHA class I, II, or III heart failure. (Funded by Medtronic; BLOCK HF ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00267098.).

No abstract

The implantable continuous hemodynamic monitor-guided care did not significantly reduce total HF-related events compared with optimal medical management. Additional trials will be necessary to establish the clinical benefit of implantable continuous hemodynamic monitor-guided care in patients with advanced HF.

No abstract

http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT00531661.

No abstract

Background-Approximately half of all patients with chronic heart failure (HF) have a decreased ejection fraction (EF) (systolic HF [SHF]); the other half have HF with a normal EF (diastolic HF [DHF]). However, the underlying pathophysiological differences between DHF and SHF patients are incompletely defined. The purpose of this study was to use echocardiographic and implantable hemodynamic monitor data to examine the pathophysiology of chronic compensated and acute decompensated HF in SHF versus DHF patients. Methods and Results-Patients were divided into 2 subgroups: 204 had EF Ͻ50% (SHF) and 70 had EF Ն50% (DHF).DHF patients had EF of 58Ϯ8%, end-diastolic dimension of 50Ϯ10 mm, estimated resting pulmonary artery diastolic pressure (ePAD) of 16Ϯ9 mm Hg, and diastolic distensibility index (ratio of ePAD to end-diastolic volume) of 0.11Ϯ0.06 mm Hg/mL. In contrast, SHF patients had EF of 24Ϯ10%, end-diastolic dimension of 68Ϯ11 mm, ePAD of 18Ϯ7 mm Hg, and diastolic distensibility index of 0.06Ϯ0.04 mm Hg/mL (PϽ0.05 versus DHF for all variables except ePAD). In SHF and DHF patients who developed acute decompensated HF, these events were associated with a significant increase in ePAD, from 17Ϯ7 to 22Ϯ7 mm Hg (PϽ0.05) in DHF and from 21Ϯ9 to 24Ϯ8 mm Hg (PϽ0.05) in SHF. As a group, patients who did not have acute decompensated HF events had no significant changes in ePAD. Conclusions-Significant structural and functional differences were found between patients with SHF and those with DHF; however, elevated diastolic pressures play a pivotal role in the underlying pathophysiology of chronic compensated and acute