Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to S Cazeau.
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The first case report introducing the concept of cardiac resynchronisation therapy (CRT) was published less than 10 years ago, opening the way to the development of the first successful non-pharmacological treatment of congestive heart failure (CHF). The now routine implantation of CRT systems is applicable to multitudes of patients as adjunctive therapy in advanced CHF. This technique has transformed the traditional concepts associated with stimulation of the heart, and is now applied not only to restore an appropriate heart rate, but also to change the process of cardiac mechanical activation. Since it must be integrated within a comprehensive and multidisciplinary CHF management program, CRT has changed the practice of experts in the field of cardiac pacing. CRT in the management of CHF was ultimately validated in 2 randomised trials. MUSTIC, the first trial, compared in a single-blind, 3x3 months crossover design active versus inactive biventricular stimulation in a group of patients in sinus rhythm and another group in atrial fibrillation. Both phases of the trial were completed by 48 patients, with significant positive effects conferred by CRT on the distance walked in 6 min and on peak oxygen consumption. The number of hospitalizations for management of CHF was decreased by 2/3 (P<0.05), and 85% of patients preferred the atrio-biventricular over the inactive stimulation mode (P<0.001). These results were amply confirmed by the parallel-design MIRACLE trial. The current indications for CRT, diagnostic tools to assist in its implementation, and limitations of this new therapeutic adjunct are further discussed in this review.
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Multisite biventricular pacing therapy offers significant clinical improvement in some stimulated patients with electrocardiographic criteria of cardiac dyssynchrony. However, observational data increasingly suggest that patients suffering from congestive heart failure in presence of modest QRS widening may also derive benefit from cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT), and that some patients can be significantly improved clinically after system implantation despite no apparent change in QRS width. This pilot study explored the value of an echocardiographic model to identify cardiac electromechanical dyssynchrony parameters (EDP) in candidates for CRT, and their potential correction after implantation. The study included 66 consecutive CRT recipients of CRT in NYHA functional class III or IV who had one or more atrioventricular, interventricular or intraventricular dyssynchrony criteria. An immediate improvement was observed in 85% of the population with a partial or total correction of their EDP. However, the modifications in EDP differed considerably between recipients of de novo CRT systems and patients with previously implanted standard pacing systems upgraded with the implantation of a left ventricular lead. EDP measurements appear to identify potential candidates for CRT, and to confirm the success of system implantation.
The evaluation of multisite stimulation with a haemodynamic aim has since its origin clashed with the absence of definition of a simple method of identifying candidates and of evaluation of the effects of treatment. In this pilot work, 66 patients were selected on electromechanical criteria obtained from a desynchronisation model identified from simple echographic parameters. The short term results demonstrate important modifications, differing according to the type of patient undergoing implantation. These results reject the basis of a prospective multicentric study aimed at validating the concept of ventricular resynchronisation.
The atrio-bi-ventricular pacing has been used for hemodynamic improvement since 1994, and the MUSTIC trial is the first controlled study assessing this concept. It collected 67 patients with severe and stable heart failure with optimised medical therapy, with sinus rhythm and without any traditional indication for pacing. After two periods of three months with blinded randomisation and cross-over, the bi-ventricular pacing mode showed its superiority to the inactive mode concerning all study endpoints, for example with an improvement of the functional capacity of 23% assessed by the 6-minutes-walk test. Thus the MUSTIC trial opens up the way for morbidity and mortality studies.
BACKGROUND: One third of patients with chronic heart failure have electrocardiographic evidence of a major intraventricular conduction delay, which may worsen left ventricular systolic dysfunction through asynchronous ventricular contraction. Uncontrolled studies suggest that multisite biventricular pacing improves hemodynamics and well-being by reducing ventricular asynchrony. We assessed the clinical efficacy and safety of this new therapy. METHODS: Sixty-seven patients with severe heart failure (New York Heart Association class III) due to chronic left ventricular systolic dysfunction, with normal sinus rhythm and a duration of the QRS interval of more than 150 msec, received transvenous atriobiventricular pacemakers (with leads in one atrium and each ventricle). This single-blind, randomized, controlled crossover study compared the responses of the patients during two periods: a three-month period of inactive pacing (ventricular inhibited pacing at a basic rate of 40 bpm) and a three-month period of active (atriobiventricular) pacing. The primary end point was the distance walked in six minutes; the secondary end points were the quality of life as measured by questionnaire, peak oxygen consumption, hospitalizations related to heart failure, the patients' treatment preference (active vs. inactive pacing), and the mortality rate. RESULTS: Nine patients were withdrawn from the study before randomization, and 10 failed to complete both study periods. Thus, 48 patients completed both phases of the study. The mean distance walked in six minutes was 22 percent greater with active pacing (399+/-100 m vs. 326+/-134 m, P<0.001), the quality-of-life score improved by 32 percent (P<0.001), peak oxygen uptake increased by 8 percent (P<0.03), hospitalizations were decreased by two thirds (P<0.05), and active pacing was preferred by 85 percent of the patients (P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Although it is technically complex, atriobiventricular pacing significantly improves exercise tolerance and quality of life in patients with chronic heart failure and intraventricular conduction delay.
It is possible to characterize some of the sensing functions of new multisite pacing systems by resurrecting the split format in the third position of the standard pacemaker code. This approach permits accurate representation of the horizontal and vertical triggering functions of multisite dual-chamber pacemakers without creating a new code.
BACKGROUND: The prognosis and quality of life of patients with advanced heart failure remain poor. The purpose of this study was to evaluate new nonpharmacologic approaches. Biventricular pacing was proposed in this indication, based on the encouraging results of acute hemodynamics studies. METHODS: Fifty patients with drug-resistant heart failure (New York Heart Association [NYHA] class III/IV, 16 of 34) were consecutively implanted with biventricular pacemakers. All patients had severe dilated cardiomyopathy and intraventricular conduction delay. Survival, NYHA class, electrocardiogram, echocardiographic data, and exercise tolerance were assessed over a mean follow-up period of 15.4 +/- 10. 2 months. RESULTS: At the end of follow-up, 55% of patients were alive without heart transplantation or left ventricular assistance device. The mortality rate was significantly lower in class III (12. 5%) than in class IV patients (52.5%). In survivors, biventricular pacing significantly improved symptoms (NYHA class 2.2 +/- 0.5 at follow-up vs 3.7 +/- 0.5 at baseline) and exercise tolerance ((. )VO(2) peak 15.5 +/- 3.4 mL/min per kilogram at follow-up vs 11.1 +/- 3 mL/min per kilogram at baseline). CONCLUSIONS: Biventricular pacing appears to improve the functional status of patients with dilated cardiomyopathy with advanced heart failure. The technique appears to be attractive as an additive treatment, especially in class III patients. Controlled randomized studies are needed to validate this novel concept.
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OBJECTIVE: To assess the effect of adding propafenone to atrial overdrive for the prevention of atrial arrhythmia episodes in patients with DDD pacemakers. DESIGN: 22 patients (8 female, 14 male, mean (SD) age 67 (9) years, range 48 to 77) with DDD pacemakers and frequent paroxysmal atrial arrhythmia episodes were evaluated in a randomised crossover study. SETTING: University hospital. METHODS: Atrial overdrive was defined as a paced rate of 10 paced beats/min above the mean ventricular rate stored for the last 24 hours in the pacemaker memory function. The protocol consisted of two phases of one month each. The first phase consisted of atrial overdrive alone, while in the second phase, propafenone (600 mg/day) was added to atrial overdrive (atrial overdrive + propafenone). All 22 patients underwent the two phases in random order. RESULTS: Mean ventricular rate was 72 (8) beats/min with atrial overdrive v 73 (6) with atrial overdrive + propafenone (NS). With atrial overdrive, 14 patients (64. 6%) had no recorded atrial arrhythmia v 15 (68.2%) with atrial overdrive + propafenone (NS). There was no statistical difference between the atrial overdrive and atrial overdrive + propafenone phases with regard to the number of atrial arrhythmia episodes (14 (27) v 13 (28)), their total duration (30 (78) v 29 (63) h), and their maximum duration (41 (72) v 31 (58) min). However, in the brady-tachy subgroup with persistent atrial arrhythmias, atrial overdrive + propafenone produced a shorter mean cumulative duration of atrial arrhythmia than atrial overdrive (104 (115) v 178 (149) h, p = 0.04), with a significant decrease in the number of atrial arrhythmia episodes (134 (98) v 102 (83), p = 0.05). The proportion of asymptomatic atrial arrhythmia episodes increased only in the AV block group during atrial overdrive + propafenone (p = 0.03). Three patients had atrial arrhythmias during atrial overdrive + propafenone but not with atrial overdrive alone. CONCLUSIONS: In DDD paced patients, the overall effect of propafenone during atrial overdrive is variable. Propafenone may increase the proportion of asymptomatic atrial arrhythmia episodes. A proarrhythmic effect of propafenone was documented (aggravation of atrial arrhythmias). These results need to be confirmed by further larger randomised studies.
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OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to assess the potential acute benefit of multisite cardiac pacing with optimized atrioventricular synchrony and simultaneous biventricular pacing in patients with drug-refractory congestive heart failure (CHF). BACKGROUND: Prognosis and quality of life in severe CHF are poor. Various nonpharmacological therapies have been evaluated but are restricted in their effectiveness and applications. In the early 1990s, dual chamber pacing (DDD) pacing was proposed as primary treatment of refractory CHF but results were controversial. Recently, tests to evaluate the effect of simultaneous pacing of both ventricles have elicited a significant improvement of cardiac performance. METHODS: Acute hemodynamic study was conducted in 18 patients with severe CHF (New York Heart Association class III and IV) and major intraventricular conduction block (IVCB) (QRS duration = 170+/-37 ms). Using a Swan-Ganz catheter, pulmonary artery pressure, pulmonary capillary wedge pressure (PCWP) and cardiac index (CI) were measured in different pacing configurations: atrial pacing (AAI) mode, used as reference, single-site right ventricular DDD pacing and biventricular pacing with the right ventricular lead placed either at the apex or at the outflow tract. RESULTS: The CI was significantly increased by biventricular pacing in comparison with AAI or right ventricular (RV). DDD pacing (2.7+/-0.7 vs. 2+/-0.5 and 2.4+/-0.6 l/min/m2, p < 0.001). The PCWP also decreased significantly during biventricular pacing, compared with AAI (22+/-8 vs. 27+/-9 mm Hg; p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: This acute hemodynamic study demonstrated that biventricular DDD pacing may significantly improve cardiac performance in patients with IVCB and with severe heart failure, in comparison with intrinsic conduction and single-site RV DDD pacing.
In contrast to testing of the capture threshold, the reliability of sensing tests has been little studied. This study was performed to test the automatic sensing algorithm included in the Biotronik pacing systems. The automatic measurements made by the devices were compared with the direct manual measurements made of 271 atrial (72%) or ventricular (28%) electrograms recorded in ten patients. A high correlation (r = 0.995, P < 0.0001) was found between the two types of measurements. The use of this function should facilitate the verification of accurate sensing during the long-term follow-up of pacemaker patients, and offers a tool to analyze the variations in amplitude of intracardiac signals.
Special software allowing the memorization of 24-hour minute ventilation can be loaded into the memory of the Chorus RM, a DDDR pacemaker driven by minute ventilation. This feature was tested in the postimplant period in 13 patients. Measurements of minute ventilation, respiratory rate, and respiratory amplitude were analyzed according to prospectively defined diurnal and nocturnal time periods. Minute ventilation decreased by 39% (P < 0.001) from the diurnal to the nocturnal phase, while respiratory rate and amplitude decreased by 18% and 28%, respectively (P < 0.001 each). Thus, minute ventilation allowed discrimination between sleep and waking hours. This information could be utilized to modulate the backup rate of the pacemaker.
We evaluated the effect of atrial overdrive on the incidence of atrial arrhythmias (AA) in 22 patients (67 +/- 9 years, 7 women, 15 men) with Chorus 6234 DDD pacemakers. Atrial overdrive was defined as a programmed paced rate 10 ppm faster than the mean ventricular rate stored for the last 24-hour period in the pacemaker memory. The protocol consisted of three phases of 1 month each. Phase I: observation after discontinuation of antiarrhythmic therapy. Phase II: arrhythmia analysis using the pacemaker memory after programming the lower rate to 55 ppm. The fallback function and histogram data were used to document the number and maximal duration of AA episodes as well as the total AA time in a month. Phase III: atrial overdrive. The mean ventricular heart rate was 65 +/- 4 beats/min before atrial overdrive versus 75 +/- 5 with atrial overdrive (P = 0.02). At the end of phase II, all patients presented with AA episodes (mean number per patient: 42 +/- 78 in one month). In phase III (with atrial overdrive), 14 (64.6%) patients had no recorded AA (group A). In the other eight patients with persistent AA episodes in phase III (group B), there was a significant reduction in the number of AA episodes (90 +/- 106 in phase II vs 38 +/- 87 in phase III; P = 0.01), their total duration (166 +/- 115 in phase II vs 92 +/- 134 hours in phase III; P = 0.03) and their maximal duration (121 +/- 103 in phase II vs 85 +/- 89 min; P = 0.04). Our short-term data suggest that atrial overdrive prevents or reduces AA episodes and demonstrate the feasibility and need of long-term studies to determine whether this benefit is sustained.