New therapy for heart failure

In the article entitled Cardiac-Resynchronization Therapy for the Prevention of Heart-Failure Events.The new england journal of medicince outlines clinical trial studies that show that cardiac-ressynchronization combined with an implantable cardioverter–defibrillator (ICD)reduced heart failure events.

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Cardiac-Resynchronization Therapy for the Prevention of Heart-Failure EventsArthur J. Moss, M.D., W. Jackson Hall, Ph.D., David S. Cannom, M.D., Helmut Klein, M.D., Mary W. Brown, M.S., James P. Daubert, M.D., N.A. Mark Estes, III, M.D., Elyse Foster, M.D., Henry Greenberg, M.D., Steven L. Higgins, M.D., Marc A. Pfeffer, M.D., Ph.D., Scott D. Solomon, M.D., David Wilber, M.D., Wojciech Zareba, M.D., Ph.D., for the MADIT-CRT Trial Investigators.

Background

This trial was designed to determine whether cardiac-resynchronization therapy (CRT) with biventricular pacing would reduce the risk of death or heart-failure events in patients with mild cardiac symptoms, a reduced ejection fraction, and a wide QRS complex.

Methods

During a 4.5-year period, we enrolled and followed 1820 patients with ischemic or nonischemic cardiomyopathy, an ejection fraction of 30% or less, a QRS duration of 130 msec or more, and New York Heart Association class I or II symptoms. Patients were randomly assigned in a 3:2 ratio to receive CRT plus an implantable cardioverter–defibrillator (ICD) (1089 patients) or an ICD alone (731 patients). The primary end point was death from any cause or a nonfatal heart-failure event (whichever came first). Heart-failure events were diagnosed by physicians who were aware of the treatment assignments, but they were adjudicated by a committee that was unaware of assignments....

References
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/short/361/14/1329