‘Resynchronisation’ cuts down risk of heart failures

WASHINGTON - A therapy called cardiac ‘resynchronisation’ reduced risk of heart failures by 41 percent, says an international study.

“This shows, for the first time, that the onset of heart failure symptoms and hospitalisation for heart failure can be delayed with pacing therapy,” said David Wilber, director of the Cardiovascular Institute at Loyola University (Chicago) Stritch School of Medicine.

Cardiac resynchronisation therapy (CRT) is an innovative new therapy that can relieve congestive heart failure (CHF) symptoms, by improving the coordination of its contractions.

It is done with the help of electrical impulses delivered by a device implanted in the upper chest, that help synchronise contractions of the left ventricle, the heart’s main pumping chamber.

The study included 1,820 patients from 110 centres in the US, Canada and Europe. All patients in the trial had been diagnosed with early stage, mild heart failure (Class 1 and Class 2 on the New York Heart Association classification system), according to a Loyola release.

For instance, Loyola heart failure patient Rosemary Jakubowski of Elmwood Park said before she received cardiac resychronisation, she had experienced significant fatigue. “I always had that dragging feeling,” she said.

Since receiving resychronisation, Jakubowski has been taking kickboxing and swim aerobics classes, without fatigue. “I’m 100 percent better — complete satisfaction,” she said. “It’s like I’m a new person.”

The Food and Drug Administration has approved cardiac resychronisation for patients with Class 3 (moderate) and Class 4 (severe) heart failure. Such patients experience marked limitations in physical activity or are unable to do any physical activity at all without discomfort.

“With this study, we have shown that certain patients with early-stage, mild heart failure also can benefit from cardiac resychronisation,” Wilber said.

These findings were published in the New England Journal of Medicine.