20 Jan Heart Wall Thickness Linked To Ventricular Arrhythmias
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Dr. Yitschak Biton
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Yitschak (Yitsik) Biton, MD
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
University of Rochester Medical Center
Saunders Research Building
Heart Research Follow-Up Program
Rochester, NY
Medical Research: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Dr. Biton: Patients with heart failure and reduced ejection fraction have increased risk for sudden cardiac death due to ventricular arrhythmias. The causes of these arrhythmias are thought to be adverse left ventricular remodeling and scarring. Cardiac resynchronization therapy has been previously shown to reverse the adverse process of remodeling and induce reduction in cardiac chamber volumes. Relative wall thickness is a measure of the remodeling process, and it could be classified into normal, eccentric and concentric. In our study we showed that the degree relative wall thickness in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy and eccentric hypertrophy is inversely associated with the risk of ventricular arrhythmias. Furthermore we showed the CRT treated patients who had increase in relative wall thickness (became less eccentric) had lower risk for ventricular arrhythmias.
Medical Research: What should clinicians and patients take away from your report?
Dr. Biton: Relative wall thickness can be potentially used for risk stratification of ventricular arrhythmias in patients with heart failure. Those with low baseline relative wall thickness and in particular those who fail to increase the degree of relative wall thickness with CRT should be monitored closely and evaluated for other treatment options such as ablation.
Medical Research: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this study?
Dr. Biton: This is a post hoc analysis of subgroup of patients with LBBB from the original MADIT CRT study, therefore our results should be validated in prospective randomized study.
Citation:
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Yitschak (Yitsik) Biton, MD (2016). Heart Wall Thickness Linked To Ventricular Arrhythmias
More on Heart Disease on MedicalResearch.com
Last Updated on January 20, 2016 by Marie Benz MD FAAD