Markers of ventricular repolarization and overall mortality in sleep disordered breathing.

Introduction: Variability and prolongation of ventricular repolarization - measured by changes in QT interval and QT variability are independently associated with ventricular arrhythmias, sudden death, and mortality but such studies did not examine the role of sleep-disordered breathing. We aimed to determine whether sleep-disordered breathing moderated the association between measures of ventricular repolarization and overall mortality.

Methods: Eight hundred participants were randomly selected from each of the following four groups in the Sleep Heart Health Study: mild, moderate, severe or no sleep disordered breathing (n = 200 each).

Biatrial maze procedure versus pulmonary vein isolation for atrial fibrillation during mitral valve surgery: New analytical approaches and end points.

Objective: To use novel statistical methods for analyzing the effect of lesion set on (long-standing) persistent atrial fibrillation (AF) in the Cardiothoracic Surgical Trials Network trial of surgical ablation during mitral valve surgery (MVS).

Methods: Two hundred sixty such patients were randomized to MVS + surgical ablation or MVS alone. Ablation was randomized between pulmonary vein isolation and biatrial maze.