Acute effects of multisite left ventricular pacing on mechanical dyssynchrony in patients receiving cardiac resynchronization therapy.

BACKGROUND: A novel quadripolar left ventricular (LV) pacing lead has the ability to deliver multisite LV pacing (MSLV). We set out to characterize the safety and changes in acute mechanical dyssynchrony with MSLV in cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) patients. METHODS AND RESULTS: Prospective multicenter study in 52 patients receiving CRT. An acute pacing protocol comprising 8 MSLV configurations covering a range of delays was compared with conventional CRT (baseline). Transthoracic tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) was used to measure the standard deviation of time to peak contraction of 12 LV segments (Ts-SD) and delayed longitudinal contraction. No ventricular arrhythmia occurred in any of the 52 patients. Complete TDI datasets were collected in 41 patients. Compared with baseline: 1) The mean Ts-SD was significantly lower for the optimal MSLV configuration (35.3 ± 36.4 vs 50.2 ± 29.1 ms; P < .001); 2) at least 1 MSLV configuration exhibited a significant dyssynchrony improvement in 63% of patients; and 3) the mean number of LV segments with delayed longitudinal contractions was significantly reduced with the optimal MSLV configuration (0.37 ± 7.99 vs 2.20 ± 0.19; P < .001). CONCLUSIONS: Acute MSLV was acutely safe, and a proportion of MSLV vectors resulted in a significant reduction in echocardiographic dyssynchrony compared with conventional CRT.

Improvement in acute contractility and hemodynamics with multipoint pacing via a left ventricular quadripolar pacing lead.

INTRODUCTION: A quadripolar left ventricular (LV) pacing can deliver multipoint pacing (MPP). It is unknown if this confers improved cardiac function compared to conventional cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT). METHODS AND RESULTS: We aimed to characterize changes in acute cardiac contractility and hemodynamics with multisite left ventricular "multipoint" pacing (MPP) in a prospective multicenter study in patients implanted with a CRT-defibrillator incorporating a quadripolar LV lead. The device was programmed to deliver MPP acutely pacing with eight configurations of varying timing delays. Global peak LV radial strain and LV outflow velocity time integral (LVOT VTI) were measured for conventional CRT and each MPP configuration. Out of the eight tested MPP configurations, the one that yielded the best echocardiographic measurement for each patient was defined as "optimal MPP". Forty CRT recipients had complete radial strain datasets suitable for analysis. Compared to conventional CRT, the mean peak radial strain was significantly higher for the optimal MPP configuration (18.3 ± 7.4 vs. 9.3 ± 5.3%, p < 0.001), and at least one MPP configuration was significantly superior (>20%) in 63% of patients. LVOT VTI data were collected in a subset of 13 patients. In these patients, mean VTI was significantly higher for optimal MPP compared to conventional CRT (13.5 ± 2.7 vs. 10.9 ± 3.3 cm, p < 0.01). CONCLUSION: MPP delivered via a quadripolar LV lead resulted in a significant improvement in acute cardiac contractility and hemodynamics compared to conventional CRT in the majority of patients studied. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION: Clinicaltrials.gov identifier NCT01044784.