New therapy found to prevent heart failureJune 24, 2009A landmark study has successfully demonstrated a 29 percent reduction in heart failure or death in patients with heart disease who received an implanted cardiac resynchronization therapy device with defibrillator (CRT-D) versus patients who received only an implanted cardiac defibrillator (ICD-only). MADIT-CRT (Multicenter Automatic Defibrillator Implantation Trial with Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy) is a clinical trial that enrolled more than 1,800 patients in the United States, Canada and Europe and followed the patients for up to 4½ years. The results of the trial were released today by the University of Rochester Medical Center and Boston Scientific, the study's sponsor. The MADIT-CRT Executive Committee stopped the trial on June 22, 2009, when the trial achieved its primary end point - significant reduction in heart failure or death with CRT-D versus ICD-only. Cardiologist Arthur Moss, M.D., professor of Medicine at the University of Rochester Medical Center, led the MADIT-CRT trial. A prior study (MADIT-II) by Moss and associates in 2002 showed the ICD was effective in reducing mortality. The current MADIT-CRT study sought to determine if CRT-D could reduce the risk of mortality and heart failure, which affects 5.7 million Americans, and the results are very positive. Patients with heart disease have a risk of arrhythmias and heart failure. The new generation of cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillators (CRT-Ds) was designed to stop dangerous, life-threatening heart rhythms and improve the heart's contraction, thereby enabling the device to improve survival and prevent heart failure. CRT-D's are approved for use in patients with severe heart failure (New York Heart Association class III/IV), where they have been shown to reduce heart failure symptoms. The findings from the current study indicate that CRT-D therapy improves cardiac function and prevents the development of heart failure in patients who have not previously experienced heart failure. "Now we can prevent sudden cardiac death and inhibit the development of heart failure, thus improving survival and outcome in patients with heart disease," Moss said. "There is a very large population of patients with heart disease who will benefit from this combined therapy." University of Rochester Medical Center |
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| Related Heart Failure Current Events and Heart Failure News Articles Researchers develop innovative imaging system to study sudden cardiac arrest A research team at Vanderbilt University has developed an innovative optical system to simultaneously image electrical activity and metabolic properties in the same region of a heart, to study the complex mechanisms that lead to sudden cardiac arrest. Experts unveil new CVD guidelines and position papers Several new guidelines and position papers offering the most up to date information to ensure that clinicians practice evidence-based medicine were released at the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress 2009 this week. UT Southwestern patient first in North Texas to receive newest-generation heart failure device UT Southwestern Medical Center patient Michael LeBlanc, 40, is the first in North Texas to receive the newest generation of a mechanical device designed to improve heart function. It will be his lifeline while he awaits a heart transplant. Learning the risks for stroke - and taking action With this theme in mind, the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) emphasises that most of the risks for stroke are also the major risks for coronary heart disease - and thus the object of the ESC's far-reaching prevention programme. Concurrent imaging of metabolic and electric signals in the heart Cardiac rhythm disorders can result from disturbances in cardiac metabolism. These metabolic changes are tightly linked with specific cardiac electrophysiology (CEP) abnormalities, such as depressed excitability, impaired intra- and extracellular conductivities, wave propagation block, and alteration of conduction velocity, action potential amplitude, and duration. Canadian cardiology team clears the way for lifesaving breast cancer treatment A team of Canadian cardiologists, in collaboration with oncologists, are playing an important role in the war against breast cancer Dr. Michael McDonald told the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress 2009, co-hosted by the Heart and Stroke Foundation and the Canadian Cardiovascular Society. 'Superobesity,' chronic disease burden associated with risk of death following bariatric surgery Veterans classified as superobese and those with a higher chronic disease burden appear more likely to die within a year of having bariatric surgery, according to a report in the October issue of Archives of Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. Thyroid surgery safe for older patients, study finds Thyroid surgery is safe for older patients, say physicians who found only slight differences in rates of complications and hospital readmissions in a multi-year study. New mathematical model more accurately diagnoses acute heart failure in emergency rooms Researchers at St. Michael's Hospital have developed the first mathematical model in cardiology and emergency medicine to more quickly and reliably diagnose acute heart failure (AHF) in emergency room patients. Cost Effectiveness of Blood Pressure Device Evaluated A study conducted by the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) demonstrates that, for certain patient populations, an experimental device that lowers blood pressure may be a cost effective treatment. The implantable device, called Rheos, is in advanced stages of testing for individuals with drug resistant hypertension. More Heart Failure Current Events and Heart Failure News Articles |
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