Device-Detected Atrial Tachyarrhythmias Predict Adverse Outcome

Recent research[1] led by Professor Massimo Santini, of the Department of Heart Cardiac Diseases, San Filippo Neri Hospital, Rome, evaluates the correlation between atrial tachycardia (AT) or atrial ﬁbrillation (AF) and clinical outcomes in heart failure patients with an implanted cardiac resynchronization deﬁbrillator (CRT-D).

Nearly 1,200 patients who received a CRT-D according to current guidelines and were in sinus rhythm at implant were followed for a median of 13 months. AT/AF longer than 10 min occurred in 30%. Multivariate regression analyses showed that patients with device-detected AT/AF were twice as likely to die or be hospitalized.

The authors assert that their study shows “that AT/AF continuous monitoring may be a useful tool for identifying patients at risk of cardiac deterioration or patients with suboptimal rate of rhythm control”. They emphasise “the importance of utilizing continuous device monitoring and Web-based care alerts based on AT/AF duration or on ventricular rate or BIVP% during AT/AF” (p.171).

Contact

Massimo Santini
email: m.santini@rmnet.it

References

Device-Detected Atrial Tachyarrhythmias Predict Adverse Outcome in Real-World Patients With Implantable Biventricular Deﬁbrillators, Santini et al., J Am Coll Cardiol, 2011; 57:167-172