Diabetes and Risk of Sudden Death in Coronary Artery Disease Patients Without Severe Systolic Dysfunction.

Objectives: This study sought to determine the absolute and relative associations of diabetes mellitus (DM) and hemoglobin A (HbA) with sudden and/or arrhythmic death (SAD) versus other modes of death in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) who do not qualify for implantable cardioverter-defibrillators.

Background: Patients with CAD and DM are at elevated risk for SAD; however, it is unclear whether these patients would benefit from implantable cardioverter-defibrillators given competing causes of death and/or whether HbA might augment SAD risk stratification.

Methods: In the PRE-DETERMINE study of 5,764 patients with CAD with left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) of >30% to 35%, competing risk analyses were used to compare the absolute and relative risks of SAD versus non-SAD by DM status and HbA level and to identify risk factors for SAD among 1,782 patients with DM.

Validation of electrocardiographic criteria for identifying left ventricular dysfunction in patients with previous myocardial infarction.

Background: Eleven criteria correlating electrocardiogram (ECG) findings with reduced left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) have been previously published. These have not been compared head-to-head in a single study. We studied their value as a screening test to identify patients with reduced LVEF estimated by cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging.

Estimating Myocardial Infarction Size With a Simple Electrocardiographic Marker Score.

Background Myocardial infarction (MI) size is a key predictor of prognosis in post-MI patients. Cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) is the gold standard test for MI quantification, but the ECG is less expensive and more widely available. We sought to quantify the relationship between ECG markers and cardiovascular magnetic resonance infarct size.

Implantable cardioverter-defibrillators in heart failure patients with reduced ejection fraction and diabetes.

Aim: There is limited information on the outcomes after primary prevention implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) implantation in patients with heart failure (HF) and diabetes. This analysis evaluates the effectiveness of a strategy of ICD plus medical therapy vs. medical therapy alone among patients with HF and diabetes.

New York Heart Association class and the survival benefit from primary prevention implantable cardioverter defibrillators: A pooled analysis of 4 randomized controlled trials.

Background: Primary prevention implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) reduce all-cause mortality by reducing sudden cardiac death. There are conflicting data regarding whether patients with more advanced heart failure derive ICD benefit owing to the competing risk of nonsudden death.

Methods: We performed a patient-level meta-analysis of New York Heart Association (NYHA) class II/III heart failure patients (left ventricular ejection fraction ≤35%) from 4 primary prevention ICD trials (MADIT-I, MADIT-II, DEFINITE, SCD-HeFT).

Predicting appropriate shocks in patients with heart failure: Patient level meta-analysis from SCD-HeFT and MADIT II.

Background: No precise tools exist to predict appropriate shocks in patients with a primary prevention ICD. We sought to identify characteristics predictive of appropriate shocks in patients with a primary prevention implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD).

Methods: Using patient-level data from the Multicenter Automatic Defibrillator Implantation Trial II (MADIT II) and the Sudden Cardiac Death in Heart Failure Trial (SCD-HeFT), we identified patients with any appropriate shock.

Associations of Sex Hormones With Surface Electrocardiogram J Point Amplitude in Healthy Volunteers.

Gender differences in J point height exist. Previous studies suggest male sex hormones mediate effects on cardiovascular disease through myocardial repolarization. Our objective was to assess whether male and female sex hormones are associated with J point amplitude in healthy subjects.

Orthogonal decomposition of left ventricular remodeling in myocardial infarction.

Background: Left ventricular size and shape are important for quantifying cardiac remodeling in response to cardiovascular disease. Geometric remodeling indices have been shown to have prognostic value in predicting adverse events in the clinical literature, but these often describe interrelated shape changes. We developed a novel method for deriving orthogonal remodeling components directly from any (moderately independent) set of clinical remodeling indices.

Information maximizing component analysis of left ventricular remodeling due to myocardial infarction.

Background: Although adverse left ventricular shape changes (remodeling) after myocardial infarction (MI) are predictive of morbidity and mortality, current clinical assessment is limited to simple mass and volume measures, or dimension ratios such as length to width ratio. We hypothesized that information maximizing component analysis (IMCA), a supervised feature extraction method, can provide more efficient and sensitive indices of overall remodeling.

Methods: IMCA was compared to linear discriminant analysis (LDA), both supervised methods, to extract the most discriminatory global shape changes associated with remodeling after MI.

Atlas-based quantification of cardiac remodeling due to myocardial infarction.

Myocardial infarction leads to changes in the geometry (remodeling) of the left ventricle (LV) of the heart. The degree and type of remodeling provides important diagnostic information for the therapeutic management of ischemic heart disease. In this paper, we present a novel analysis framework for characterizing remodeling after myocardial infarction, using LV shape descriptors derived from atlas-based shape models.

Outcomes of implantable cardioverter-defibrillator use in patients with comorbidities: results from a combined analysis of 4 randomized clinical trials.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine if the benefit of implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) is modulated by medical comorbidity.

Background: Primary prevention ICDs improve survival in patients at risk for sudden cardiac death. Their benefit in patients with significant comorbid illness has not been demonstrated.

Sudden cardiac death risk stratification in patients with nonischemic dilated cardiomyopathy.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to provide a meta-analysis to estimate the performance of 12 commonly reported risk stratification tests as predictors of arrhythmic events in patients with nonischemic dilated cardiomyopathy.

Background: Multiple techniques have been assessed as predictors of death due to ventricular tachyarrhythmias/sudden death in patients with nonischemic dilated cardiomyopathy.

Methods: Forty-five studies enrolling 6,088 patients evaluating the association between arrhythmic events and predictive tests (baroreflex sensitivity, heart rate turbulence, heart rate variability, left ventricular end-diastolic dimension, left ventricular ejection fraction, electrophysiology study, nonsustained ventricular tachycardia, left bundle branch block, signal-averaged electrocardiogram, fragmented QRS, QRS-T angle, and T-wave alternans) were included.

A collaborative resource to build consensus for automated left ventricular segmentation of cardiac MR images.

A collaborative framework was initiated to establish a community resource of ground truth segmentations from cardiac MRI. Multi-site, multi-vendor cardiac MRI datasets comprising 95 patients (73 men, 22 women; mean age 62.73±11.

Atlas-based analysis of cardiac shape and function: correction of regional shape bias due to imaging protocol for population studies.

Background: Cardiovascular imaging studies generate a wealth of data which is typically used only for individual study endpoints. By pooling data from multiple sources, quantitative comparisons can be made of regional wall motion abnormalities between different cohorts, enabling reuse of valuable data. Atlas-based analysis provides precise quantification of shape and motion differences between disease groups and normal subjects.

A comparison of cardiac magnetic resonance imaging peri-infarct border zone quantification strategies for the prediction of ventricular tachyarrhythmia inducibility.

Background: Peri-infarct border zone (BZ) as quantified by late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) on cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been proposed as a risk stratification tool, and is associated with increased mortality. BZ has been measured by various methods in the literature. We assessed which BZ analysis best predicts inducible arrhythmia during electrophysiological study (EPS).