Background and Objectives: Cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) is a successful treatment option for appropriately selected patients. However, one-third of recipients do not experience any positive outcome or their condition even declines. We aimed to assess preimplantation factors associated with worse survival after the CRT. Materials and Methods: This was a retrospective unicenter trial. The study cohort included 183 consecutive CRT-treated patients. Baseline demographic, clinical, electrocardiographic, and echocardiographic characteristics were analyzed. Results: After the median follow-up of 15.6 months (9.3-26.3), 20 patients had died (11%). In multivariate Cox regression analysis, ischemic origin of heart failure (HF) was a significant predictor of poor survival (adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) 15.235, 95% confidence interval (CI) (1.999-116.1), p = 0.009). In univariate Cox regression, tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion (TAPSE) <15.5 mm (sensitivity 0.824, specificity 0.526; HR 5.019, 95% CI (1.436-17.539), p = 0.012), post-implantation prescribed antiplatelet agents (HR 2.569, 95% CI (1.060-6.226), p = 0.037), statins (HR 2.983, 95% CI (1.146-7.764), p = 0.025), and nitrates (HR 3.694, 95% CI (1.342-10.171), p = 0.011) appeared to be related with adverse outcome. Conclusions: ischemic etiology of HF is a significant factor associated with worse survival after the CRT. Decreased TAPSE is also related to poor survival.
Keywords: biventricular pacing; cardiac resynchronization therapy; echocardiography; heart failure; ischemic cardiomyopathy; pulmonary hypertension.