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Background: Oxygen therapy remains a cornerstone of treatment for acute heart failure in patients with pulmonary congestion. While avoiding hypoxaemia has long been a goal of critical care practitioners, less attention has been paid to the potential hazard related to excessive hyperoxia., Aim: To evaluate the impact of early hyperoxia exposure among critically ill patients hospitalized in an intensive care unit for acute heart failure., Methods: In this preliminary study conducted in a Parisian intensive care unit, we assessed patients with acute heart failure admitted with pulmonary congestion and treated with oxygen therapy from 1 January 2015 to 31 December 2016. The hyperoxia group was defined by having at least one partial pressure of oxygen measurement>100mmHg on the first day following admission to the intensive care unit. The primary endpoint was 30-day all-cause mortality. Secondary endpoints were 30-day unplanned hospital admissions, occurrence of infections and intensive care unit and hospital lengths of stay., Results: Seventy-five patients were included. Forty-three patients (57.3%) presented hyperoxia, whereas 32 patients (42.7%) did not (control group). The baseline clinical characteristics did not differ between the two groups. The primary endpoint was not statistically different between the two groups (14.0% in the hyperoxia group vs 18.8% in the control group; P=0.85). The secondary endpoints were also not significantly different between the two groups. In the multivariable analysis, hyperoxia was not associated with increased 30-day mortality (odds ratio 0.77, 95% confidence interval 0.24-2.41)., Conclusion: In patients referred to an intensive care unit for acute heart failure, we did not find any difference in outcomes according to the presence of hyperoxia., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

Background: The clinical value of interventricular (V-V) delay optimization in patients with chronic congestive heart failure (CHF) undergoing implantation of a device for cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) has not been clearly demonstrated., Methods: RHYTHM II was a single-blind randomized trial including 121 recipients of a device for CRT with cardioverter/defibrillator capabilities (CRT-D) randomly assigned in a 1:3 ratio to simultaneous (n = 30) versus optimized (OPT) (n = 91) biventricular pacing. V-V delay was optimized by echocardiography. The study end points were (1) freedom from CRT-D system-related complications and (2) changes between preimplant and 6 months of follow-up in (a) New York Heart Association CHF functional class, (b) distance covered during a 6-minute hall walk, and (c) quality of life (QOL)., Results: In the OPT group, the V-V delay ranged from 0 to 80 milliseconds, with 28.4% of patients stimulated at an OPT V-V delay of 0 milliseconds. The overall 6-month survival free of adverse events requiring invasive interventions was 81.8%. In the whole cohort, 6 months of CRT-D was associated with a significant decrease in New York Heart Association class, increase in the distance covered during the 6-minute hall walk, and improvement in QOL (each P < .0001). The effects of CRT-D on these end points were similar in both study groups., Conclusions: Cardioverter-defibrillator capabilities was associated with a significant alleviation of CHF symptoms, increase in functional capacity, and improvement in QOL. The optimization of the V-V delay conferred no additional benefit compared with simultaneous biventricular stimulation.

To assess the impact of biventricular pacing on quality of life over 12 months of follow-up, 76 patients in the MUSTIC trial were evaluated by 2 instruments: The Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire and the Karolinska Quality of Life Questionnaire. MUSTIC is a randomized, controlled study to evaluate the effects of biventricular pacing in patients in New York Heart Association class III heart failure with intraventricular conduction delay. Following a single, blind, crossover comparison of 3 months of biventricular pacing to inactive pacing (sinus rhythm group) or ventricular-inhibited pacing (atrial fibrillation group), 85% of patients preferred and were programmed to biventricular pacing and were followed for 12 months. In parallel with clinical improvements, substantial benefits in quality of life for most broad domains of quality of life and cardiovascular symptoms were found during biventricular pacing already within the crossover phase with a maintained benefit over the 12-month follow-up. Biventricular pacing improved quality of life in patients with heart failure and intraventricular conduction delays. The benefits were sustained over 12 months of follow-up.

Background: One third of chronic heart failure patients have major intraventricular conduction and uncoordinated ventricular contraction. Non-controlled studies suggest that biventricular pacing may improve haemodynamics and well-being by reducing ventricular asynchrony. The aim of this trial was to assess the clinical efficacy and safety of this new therapy in patients with chronic atrial fibrillation., Methods: Fifty nine NYHA class III patients with left ventricular systolic dysfunction, chronic atrial fibrillation, slow ventricular rate necessitating permanent ventricular pacing, and a wide QRS complex (paced width >or=200 ms), were implanted with transvenous biventricular-VVIR pacemakers. This single-blind, randomized, controlled, crossover study compared the patients' parameters, as monitored during two 3-month treatment periods of conventional right-univentricular vs biventricular pacing. The primary end-point was the 6-min walked distance, secondary end-points were peak oxygen uptake, quality-of-life, hospitalizations, patients' preferred study period and mortality., Results: Because of a higher than expected drop-out rate (42%), only 37 patients completed both crossover phases. In the intention-to-treat analysis, we did not observe a significant difference. However, in the patients with effective therapy the mean walked distance increased by 9.3% with biventricular pacing (374+/-108 vs 342+/-103 m in univentricular;P =0.05). Peak oxygen uptake increased by 13% (P=0.04). Hospitalizations decreased by 70% and 85% of the patients preferred the biventricular pacing period (P<0.001)., Conclusion: As compared with conventional VVIR pacing, effective biventricular pacing seems to improve exercise tolerance in NYHA class III heart failure patients with chronic atrial fibrillation and wide paced-QRS complexes. Further randomized controlled studies are required to definitively validate this therapy in such patients., (Copyright 2002 The European Society of Cardiology. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Objectives: The main objective of this study was to assess if the benefits of biventricular (BiV) pacing observed during the crossover phase were sustained over 12 months., Background: MUltisite STimulation In Cardiomyopathies (MUSTIC) is a randomized controlled study intended to evaluate the effects of BiV pacing in patients with New York Heart Association (NYHA) class III heart failure and intraventricular conduction delay., Methods: Of 131 patients included, 42/67 in sinus rhythm (SR) and 33/64 in atrial fibrillation (AF) were followed up longitudinally at 9 and 12 months by 6-min walked distance, peak oxygen uptake (peak VO(2)), quality of life by the Minnesota score, NYHA class, echocardiography, and left ventricular ejection fraction by radionuclide technique., Results: At 12 months, all SR and 88% of AF patients were programmed to BiV pacing. Compared with baseline, the 6-min walked distance increased by 20% (SR) (p = 0.0001) and 17% (AF) (p = 0.004); the peak VO(2) by 11% (SR) and 9% (AF); quality of life improved by 36% (SR) (p = 0.0001) and 32% (AF) (p = 0.002); NYHA class improved by 25% (SR) (p = 0.0001) and 27% (AF) (p = 0.0001). The ejection fraction improved by 5% (SR) and 4% (AF). Mitral regurgitation decreased by 45% (SR) and 50% (AF)., Conclusions: The clinical benefits of BiV pacing appeared to be significantly maintained over a 12-month follow-up period.

Background: One third of patients with chronic heart failure have electrocardiographic evidence of a major intraventricular conduction delay, which may worsen left ventricular systolic dysfunction through asynchronous ventricular contraction. Uncontrolled studies suggest that multisite biventricular pacing improves hemodynamics and well-being by reducing ventricular asynchrony. We assessed the clinical efficacy and safety of this new therapy., Methods: Sixty-seven patients with severe heart failure (New York Heart Association class III) due to chronic left ventricular systolic dysfunction, with normal sinus rhythm and a duration of the QRS interval of more than 150 msec, received transvenous atriobiventricular pacemakers (with leads in one atrium and each ventricle). This single-blind, randomized, controlled crossover study compared the responses of the patients during two periods: a three-month period of inactive pacing (ventricular inhibited pacing at a basic rate of 40 bpm) and a three-month period of active (atriobiventricular) pacing. The primary end point was the distance walked in six minutes; the secondary end points were the quality of life as measured by questionnaire, peak oxygen consumption, hospitalizations related to heart failure, the patients' treatment preference (active vs. inactive pacing), and the mortality rate., Results: Nine patients were withdrawn from the study before randomization, and 10 failed to complete both study periods. Thus, 48 patients completed both phases of the study. The mean distance walked in six minutes was 22 percent greater with active pacing (399+/-100 m vs. 326+/-134 m, P<0.001), the quality-of-life score improved by 32 percent (P<0.001), peak oxygen uptake increased by 8 percent (P<0.03), hospitalizations were decreased by two thirds (P<0.05), and active pacing was preferred by 85 percent of the patients (P<0.001)., Conclusions: Although it is technically complex, atriobiventricular pacing significantly improves exercise tolerance and quality of life in patients with chronic heart failure and intraventricular conduction delay.