[Prevention of sudden death in heart failure patients: cardiac resynchronization therapy with or without defibrillation back-up].

The prevalence and incidence of heart failure are progressively increasing in both Europe and the United States. Despite many advances in diagnosis and therapy, morbidity and mortality remain high and long-term prognosis is still poor in most heart failure patients. The use of implantable devices, cardiac resynchronization therapy and implantable cardioverter-defibrillators plays a pivotal role in the treatment of heart failure.

[Risk stratification for sudden cardiac death: from the electrophysiological study to T-wave alternans].

T-wave alternans is a change, in the microvolt range, of T-wave amplitude on an ABABAB sequence. At present, various groups of patients have been evaluated, including those with myocardial infarction, congestive heart failure, implantable cardioverter-defibrillators and a clinical indication for programmed ventricular stimulation. In all clinical conditions analyzed, T-wave alternans analysis demonstrated a good diagnostic accuracy, suggesting a possible clinical use of the test in these settings.

T wave alternans is a predictor of death in patients with congestive heart failure.

Few data are available about the prognostic role of T wave alternans in patients with congestive heart failure. To assess the ability of T wave alternans, used alone or in combination with other risk markers, to predict cardiac death in decompensated patients, we enrolled 46 patients, mean age 59+/-9, males 89%, ischemic etiology 61%, NYHA class III 35%, left ventricular ejection fraction 29+/-7%. After 1.

[T-wave alternation: a new method for identifying patients at risk of malignant ventricular tachyarrhythmia].

T wave alternans (TWA) is a change, in the microvolt range, of T wave amplitude on ABABAB sequence. TWA depends on heart rate, being optimally analyzed at a target frequency of 110 b/min. Initial studies used atrial pacing to reach the target frequency and reported a sensitivity and specificity of 89% for TWA in predicting tachyarrhythmic events.