Changes in QRS Area and QRS Duration After Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Predict Cardiac Mortality, Heart Failure Hospitalizations, and Ventricular Arrhythmias

Osita Okafor, Abbasin Zegard, Peter Van Dam, Berthold Stegemann, Tian Qiu, Howard Marshall, Francisco Leyva

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Background Predicting clinical outcomes after cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) and its optimization remain a challenge. We sought to determine whether pre- and postimplantation QRS area (QRS area) predict clinical outcomes after CRT. Methods and Results In this retrospective study, QRS area, derived from pre- and postimplantation vectorcardiography, were assessed in relation to the primary end point of cardiac mortality after CRT with or without defibrillation. Other end points included total mortality, total mortality or heart failure (HF) hospitalization, total mortality or major adverse cardiac events, and the arrhythmic end point of sudden cardiac death or ventricular arrhythmias with or without a shock. In patients (n=380, age 72.0±12.4 years, 68.7% male) undergoing CRT over 7.7 years (median follow-up: 3.8 years [interquartile range 2.3-5.3]), preimplantation QRS area ≥102 μVs predicted cardiac mortality (HR: 0.36; P<0.001), independent of QRS duration (QRSd) and morphology ( P<0.001). A QRS area reduction ≥45 μVs after CRT predicted cardiac mortality (HR: 0.19), total mortality (HR: 0.50), total mortality or heart failure hospitalization (HR: 0.44), total mortality or major adverse cardiac events (HR: 0.43) (all P<0.001) and the arrhythmic end point (HR: 0.26; P<0.001). A concomitant reduction in QRS area and QRSd was associated with the lowest risk of cardiac mortality and the arrhythmic end point (both HR: 0.12, P<0.001). Conclusions Pre-implantation QRS area, derived from vectorcardiography, was superior to QRSd and QRS morphology in predicting cardiac mortality after CRT. A postimplant reduction in both QRS area and QRSd was associated with the best outcomes, including the arrhythmic end point.

Original languageEnglish
Article numbere013539
JournalJournal of the American Heart Association
Volume8
Issue number21
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 28 Oct 2019

Bibliographical note

Copyright: 2019 The Authors. Published on behalf of the American Heart Association, Inc., by Wiley. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly
cited and is not used for commercial purposes.

Meditronic: Medtronic Plc.

Keywords

  • QRS area
  • QRS duration
  • cardiac resynchronization therapy
  • left bundle branch block
  • vectorcardiography

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