Sleep-disordered breathing in heart failure and the effect of cardiac resynchronization therapy.

Respiratory disturbances during sleep are common in patients with heart failure (HF) and can trigger the occurrence of sleep apnoea or deteriorate pre-existing breathing disorder. This in turn may lead to worsening of the HF itself. Optimal treatment for HF has been found to reduce respiratory disturbances during sleep significantly, whereas cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT), achieved by biventricular pacing, appears to cause a further reduction in episodes of central type apnoea, although it may also have an effect on episodes of obstructive type.

Severe bradyarrhythmias in patients with sleep apnoea: the effect of continuous positive airway pressure treatment: a long-term evaluation using an insertable loop recorder.

Aim: In this new era of insertable loop recorders, we studied obstructive sleep apnoea-hypopnoea syndrome (OSAHS) patients in order to evaluate their arrhythmias and the beneficial effect of Continuous Positive Airway Pressure treatment (CPAP), over a long-term period.

Methods And Results: We enrolled 23 patients (16 men, 50 +/- 11 years) with moderate and severe OSAHS. In all patients, an insertable loop recorder capable of monitoring the heart rhythm for 16 months was implanted.