BACKGROUND Mechanical dyssynchrony is considered an independent predictor for adverse cardiovascular outcomes in patients with heart failure. However, its importance as a risk factor after myocardial infarction is not well defined. METHODS AND RESULTS We examined the influence of mechanical dyssynchrony on outcome in patients with left ventricular dysfunction, heart failure, or both after myo...

background : left ventricular (lv) dyssynchrony is a prevalent feature in heart failure (hf) patients. the current study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of inter and intraventricular dyssynchrony in hf patients with regard to the qrs duration and etiology. methods: the available data on the tissue doppler imaging (tdi) of 230 patients with refractory hf were analyzed. the patients were divided...

Rapid leftward septal motion (RLSM) during early left ventricular (LV) diastole is observed in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). RLSM exacerbates right ventricular (RV) systolic dysfunction and impairs LV filling. Increased RV wall tension caused by increased RV afterload has been suggested to cause interventricular relaxation dyssynchrony and RLSM in PAH. Simulations using t...

INTRODUCTION Paradoxical or hypokinetic interventricular septal motion has been described in patients with septal or paraseptal accessory pathways. Data regarding nonseptal pathways is limited. METHODS AND RESULTS We quantified left ventricular dyssynchrony and function in 16 consecutive children, 14.2 ± 3.7 years, weighing 53 ± 17 kg, prior to and following catheter ablation of bidirectional...

BACKGROUND The right ventricular (RV) dyssynchrony has not been studied extensively and the existing literature has established the effect of cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) on the left ventricular (LV) dyssynchrony, but there is a dearth of data on the effect of CRT on the forgotten ventricle. We sought to evaluate the presence of mechanical right ventricular dyssynchrony in patients w...

SEE PAGE 642 T he pressure overload of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) predisposes the right ventricle (RV) to hypertrophy, dilation, and reduced pump function. Alterations in RV functional indexes such as tricuspid annular plane excursion, fractional area change, and tissue Doppler myocardial velocity have been shown to have prognostic significance in PAH (1). With the advent of strain a...

AIMS Contradicting reports have been published regarding the relation between a dobutamine-induced increase in either cardiac dyssynchrony or left-ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) and the response to cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT). Using apical rocking (ApRock) as surrogate dyssynchrony parameter, we investigated the dobutamine stress echocardiography (DSE)-induced changes in left-...

Heart failure remains a major cardiovascular health problem, afflicting 22 million individuals worldwide and approximately 5 million persons in the United States alone. Management of patients with this problem represents the largest single expense to Medicare. A common feature predictive of adverse clinical outcomes in patients with congestive heart failure is prolongation of the QRS duration. ...