Imaging modality for left ventricular ejection fraction estimation and effect of implantable cardioverter-defibrillator on mortality in patients with heart failure.

Background: Implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) improve outcomes in patients with heart failure (HF) with left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) ≤35%. Less is known about whether outcomes varied between the 2 noninvasive imaging modalities used to estimate LVEF-2-dimensional echocardiography (2DE) and multigated acquisition radionuclide ventriculography (MUGA)-which use different principles (geometric vs count-based, respectively).

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine whether the effect of ICD on mortality in patients with HF and LVEF ≤35% varied on the basis of LVEF measured by 2DE or MUGA.