Cardiac synchronism assessment by myocardial perfusion imaging in patients with cardiac resynchronization therapy

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: the treatment of heart failure has undergone major therapeutic advances in recent decades, among them, cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT), a strategy capable of reducing symptoms, hospitalization and mortality. It is known that up to 30% of patients undergoing CRT do not have a satisfactory response, based on current selection criteria. Purpose: Myocardial perfusion scintigraphy by Gated-SPECT technique (Gated-SPECT) can provide important information such as mechanical timing, region of last mechanical activation and fibrosis which are very useful in the best selection of who would really benefit from this device. OBJECTIVE: to evaluate the presence of improvement in the mechanical synchronism of the left ventricle (LV) in patients with CRT, using the Synctool software used in the Gated-SPECT, as well as to correlate the data obtained with clinical improvement, defined by reduction of at least 1 New York Heart Association class and reduction of at least 5 points in the Minessota Living With Heart Failure Questionnaire (MLHFQ), and also correlate to other epidemiological, clinical, electrocardiographic and perfusional variables. METHODS: 31 patients (p) with CRT underwent Gated-SPECT at 2 different times CRT on and off. A quality of life questionnaire was also applied and clinical data before and after implantation of the device were collected. RESULTS: improved synchronism with reduced histogram bandwidth (BWH) (215.6 ± 74.7 ° vs. 149.9 ± 67.9 °; p <0.001) and phase standard deviation (SD) (65, 3 ± 21.7 ° vs. 53.1 ± 22.7 °; p <0.001), after CRT is turned on. Patients who presented synchrony improvement had a higher frequency of clinical improvement (p = 0.026) and obtained lower values of LV end diastolic volume (204.4 ± 100.4 ml vs. 304.3 ± 77.2 ml; p = 0.028) and LV end-systolic volume (120.2 ± 88.8 ml vs. 197.5 ± 51.6 ml; p = 0.026). When clinical improvement was examined, 23 (74.1%) p were considered as responders and 8 (25.9%) as non-responders. Responders showed a significant increase in the LV ejection fraction (38.4 ± 14.1 vs. 47.9 ± 15.3; p <0.001). Non-responders had a higher mean of myocardial involvement by fibrosis (12.9 ± 5.5% vs. 5.7 ± 8.4%; p = 0.033) and higher frequency of fibrosis in the lateral and inferolateral walls (50% vs. 8.7%; p = 0.026), presented an even lower percentage of localization of the region of last mechanical activation (LMA) in the lateral and inferolateral walls (12.5% vs 56.5%; p = 0.045), thus assuming a discordant position between fibrosis and the CRT pacing electrode in the LV. CONCLUSION: Synctoll software are very useful to predict the evaluation of patients with CRT wich was able to improve the mechanical timing of the LV. Improvement in mechanical synchrony is associated with clinical improvement and marked reverse remodeling. Presence of fibrosis and region of last mechanical activation in the lateral and inferolateral walls are predictive factors of response to CRT.