PhD-student: Charlotte Stephansen (Dept. Of Cardiology)
Dept. of Nuclear Medicine & PET Centre: Kirsten Bouchelouche, Jørgen Frøkiær.
Background:Cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) is an established therapy in patients with left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction (EF) < 35 % and a prolonged QRS duration who remain symptomatic despite optimal medical therapy.Despite the convincing effect of CRT on survival, symptoms and LV function, 30-40 % of the patients do not benefit clinically from the treatment.
Objectives: To investigate if optimal electrical resynchronization achieved by targeting LV lead placement to the myocardial region with the latest electrical activation combined with post-implant VV electrical optimization for narrowing the paced QRS width causes an excess improvement in LVEF after CRT.