Determination of the optimal atrioventricular and interventricular delays in cardiac resynchronization therapy / 老年心脏病学杂志（英文版）

ABSTRACT

In order to provide the maximum benefit of cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT), we tried to use an echocardiography method to optimize the atrioventricular and interventricular delay. Methods The study included 6 patients who underwent implantation of biventricular pacemakers for drug-resistant heart failure. Two-dimensional echocardiography and tissue Doppler imaging were carried out before and after the pacemaker implantation. The optimal AV delay was defined as the AV delay resulting in maximum timevelocity integral (TVI) of transmitral filling flow, the longest left ventricular filling time (LVFT) and the minimum mitral regurgitation(MR). The optimal VV delay was defined as the VV delay producing the maximum LV synchrony and the largest aortic TVI. Results CRT was successfully performed in all patients. After pacemaker implantation, an acute improvement in left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) was observed from 26.5% to 35%. Meanwhile, the QRS duration decreased from 170ms to 150ms. The optimal AV delay was programmed at 130, 120, 120, 120, 150 and 110ms respectively with heart rate corrected, LVFT significantly lengthened and TVI of MR decreased (non-optimal vs optimal AV delay: LVFT: 469ms vs 523ms; TVI of MR: 16.43cm vs 13.06cm, P＜0.05). The optimal VV delay was programmed at 4, 4, 4, 8, 12 and 8ms with LV preactivation respectively. Programming the optimal VV delay increased the aortic TVI from 17.33cm up to 21.42cm (P＜0.05). In the septal and lateral wall, peak systolic velocities improved from2.70cm/s to 3.02cm/s (P＞0.05) and froml.31cm/s to 2.50cm/s (P＜0.05) respectively. The septal-to-lateral delay in peak velocity improved from 56.4ms to 13.3ms after CRT (P＜0.01). Conclusions Optimization of AV and VV delays may further enhance the efficacy of CRT. However, there was interindividual variability of optimal values, warranting individual patient examination.