BACKGROUND The frequency and characterization of patients receiving cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) are largely unknown since the publication of pivotal clinical trials and subsequent incorporation of CRT into the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association guidelines for heart failure. METHODS AND RESULTS We analyzed 33,898 patients admitted from January 2005 through Se...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the cost-effectiveness of implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs), cardiac resynchronisation therapy pacemakers (CRT-Ps) and combination therapy (CRT-D) in patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction based on a range of clinical characteristics. METHODS Individual patient data from 13 randomised trials were used to inform a decision analytical model...

Cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) has been first reported more than 10 years ago as a therapy for patients with severe chronic heart failure. The efficacy of CRT has been proven in many studies that it improves not only quality of life but also the prognosis of the patients. Its indication has been expanded for patients with mild heart failure. On the other hand, some patients cannot rece...

OBJECTIVE Endocrine deficiencies, like GH and estrogen deficiencies, are likely candidates to explain increased visceral to subcutaneous fat ratio in patients with pituitary insufficiency. However, recent reports pointed to cranial radiotherapy (CRT) as an additional determinant of an unfavorable fat distribution. Therefore, we determined the effect of CRT on abdominal fat distribution in men w...

BACKGROUND Long-term data on device-related untoward events in patients receiving defibrillators for resynchronization therapy (CRT-D) are lacking. We quantified the frequency of repeat invasive procedures and the nature of long-term complications in current clinical practice and examined possible predictors of device-related events and their association with long-term patient outcome. METHOD...

Background—Long-term data on device-related untoward events in patients receiving defibrillators for resynchronization therapy (CRT-D) are lacking. We quantified the frequency of repeat invasive procedures and the nature of long-term complications in current clinical practice and examined possible predictors of device-related events and their association with long-term patient outcome. Methods ...

Cardiac conduction system pacing, in the form of His-Cardiac Resynchronization therapy (His-CRT), is advantageous due to its physiological nature and accompanying clinical benefits.His-CRT has not become mainstream practice, challenges such as higher procedural time, pacing thresholds varying success rates. There a paucity studies comparing His-CRT with other modalities Left Bundle Branch Paced...

Despite its widespread use, disagreement remains about whether the Cognitive Reflection Test (CRT) measures the ability to inhibit an intuitively appealing but incorrect response to a problem, or simply numeracy skills. We administered Chinese-language versions of the extended seven-item CRT, two widely-used numeracy scales and a set of decision-making tasks (risk preferences, ratio bias and fr...

BACKGROUND Speckle tracking echocardiography (STE) is reported as a useful method to predict cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) responders. This study aimed to identify the incremental value of a STE parameter to predict CRT responders. METHODS AND RESULTS We enrolled 171 patients from the Speckle Tracking imaging for the Assessment of cardiac Resynchronization Therapy (START) study. CRT...