Heart Failure Of Ischemic Etiology Research Articles

Haemodynamic effects of intravenous isosorbide-5-mononitrate in acute and chronic left heart failure of ischaemic aetiology

Isosorbide-5-mononitrate was administered in a continuous intravenous infusion, according to the haemodynamic response, to 19 patients with left heart failure of ischaemic aetiology; 12 with acute heart failure complicating an acute myocardial infarction and 7 with chronic ischaemic failure. In both groups, the following statistically significant haemodynamic changes were observed: a decrease in PCWP from 25.4 +/- 4.6 to 17.2 +/- 4.6 mmHg; an increase in SWI from 19.1 +/- 10 to 23.6 +/- 13.1 gm m-2; a slight increase in cardiac index with no change in arterial pressure and only minimal decrease in vascular resistance. There were two major differences in the haemodynamic response between the patients with acute heart failure and those with chronic disease: (a) the duration of the effect of isosorbide-5-mononitrate on the PCWP was longer in the first group (mean, 8 hours, compared to 1.5 hours in the chronic group), and (b) the effect on afterload was more pronounced in the group with chronic ischaemic failure than in the first group. Thus, isosorbide-5-mononitrate administered by intravenous infusion under careful monitoring appears to have a beneficial role in the treatment of acute as well as chronic ischaemic heart failure.

Where shall John go? North-western Australia.

<h3>Introduction</h3> Achieving optimal placement of the left ventricular (LV) lead in cardiac resynchronisation therapy (CRT) is a prerequisite in order to achieve maximum clinical benefit, and is likely to help avoid non-response. Pacing outside scar tissue and targeting late activated segments may improve outcome. The present study will be the first randomised controlled trial to compare the efficacy of <i>real-time</i> image-guided LV lead delivery to conventional CRT implantation. In addition, to estimate the cost-effectiveness of targeted lead implantation, an early decision analytic model was developed, and described here. <h3>Methods and analysis</h3> A multicentre, interventional, randomised, controlled trial will be conducted in a total of 130 patients with a class I or IIa indication for CRT implantation. Patients will be stratified to ischaemic heart failure aetiology and 1:1 randomised to either empirical lead placement or live image-guided lead placement. Ultimate lead location and echocardiographic assessment will be performed by core laboratories, blinded to treatment allocation and patient information. Late gadolinium enhancement cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) and CINE-CMR with feature-tracking postprocessing software will be used to semi-automatically determine myocardial scar and late mechanical activation. The subsequent treatment file with optimal LV-lead positions will be fused with the fluoroscopy, resulting in live target-visualisation during the procedure. The primary endpoint is the difference in percentage of successfully targeted LV-lead location. Secondary endpoints are relative percentage reduction in indexed LV end-systolic volume, a hierarchical clinical endpoint, and quality of life. The early analytic model was developed using a Markov-model, consisting of seven mutually exclusive health states. <h3>Ethics and dissemination</h3> The protocol was approved by the Medical Research Ethics Committee Utrecht (NL73416.041.20). All participants are required to provide written informed consent. Results will be submitted to peer-reviewed journals. <h3>Trial registration number</h3> NCT05053568; Trial NL8666.