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Usefulness of intrathoracic fluids accumulation monitoring with an implantable biventricular defibrillator in reducing hospitalizations in patients with heart failure: A case-control study

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Journal of Interventional Cardiac Electrophysiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Background

The reduction of hospitalizations in patients with heart failure (HF) may have clinical and economical implications.

Materials and methods

In a case-control study, we compared the number of hospital admissions for congestive HF during the same follow-up period in two homogeneous groups of patients, each consisting of 27 consecutive patients treated with biventricular pacing and back-up defibrillator (B-ICD) in our institution. The first group was implanted with an InSync Sentry®, (Medtronic Inc, Minneapolis, MN, US), a B-ICD device with the OptiVol®feature for monitoring intrathoracic fluid accumulation and equipped with an active acoustic alarm (Group 1); the second group was implanted with an InSync III Marquis™(Medtronic), a B-ICD device with similar features except for the absence of the OptiVol (Group 2). Follow-up visits were performed at 3 month interval or in case of acoustic alarm.

Results

The patient clinical characteristics of the two groups were similar. In Group 1, with 359 ± 98 days follow-up, 12 of the 27 patients, experienced 18 OptiVol alarms with only one hospital admission for congestive HF occurring in a patient who ignored the acoustic alarm for 13 days. In Group 2, eight HF hospitalizations occurred in seven patients (p < 0.05).

Conclusions

The OptiVol feature is a useful tool for the clinical management of HF patients as it can result in early treatment during the pre-clinic stage of HF decompensation and in a significant reduction of hospital admissions for congestive HF.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Cardiology, Santa Maria del Carmine Hospital, Corso Verona, 4, 38068, Rovereto (TN), Italy

    Massimiliano Maines, Domenico Catanzariti, Claudio Cemin, Chiara Vaccarini & Giuseppe Vergara

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  1. Massimiliano Maines
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  2. Domenico Catanzariti
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  3. Claudio Cemin
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  4. Chiara Vaccarini
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  5. Giuseppe Vergara
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Correspondence to Massimiliano Maines.

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Maines, M., Catanzariti, D., Cemin, C. et al. Usefulness of intrathoracic fluids accumulation monitoring with an implantable biventricular defibrillator in reducing hospitalizations in patients with heart failure: A case-control study. J Interv Card Electrophysiol 19, 201–207 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10840-007-9155-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10840-007-9155-4

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