Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to B Castaldi.
Several studies already demonstrated the clinical relevance of strain rate imaging. Unfortunately, so far only few echolaboratories are using this technique in their clinical practice. This is mainly due to the lack of information on how to perform a standard strain rate imaging study. Thus, the aim of the present review is to provide the bases and methodology to perform a correct strain rate study.
AIMS: Atrial overdrive pacing algorithms increase Atrial Pacing Percentage (APP) to reduce Atrial Tachyarrhythmia (AT) recurrences in patients with Brady-Tachy Syndrome (BTS). This study aimed to compare AT burden and APP in BTS patients treated with conventional DDDR pacing, DDD+ overdrive or Closed-Loop Stimulation (CLS). METHODS AND RESULTS: One hundred and forty-nine BTS patients were included (72 male, mean age 74+/-9), who received a dual chamber pacemaker (Philos DR or Inos 2+CLS, Biotronik GmbH, Berlin, Germany) programmed in DDD at 70min(-1). At 1-month follow-up, DDDR, DDD+ or CLS algorithms were activated according to randomization. Follow-up visits for data collection were performed at 4 and 7 months. Non parametric statistical tests (Kruskal-Wallis H-test, Dunn test, Spearman coefficient) were used to analyse not-normally-distributed samples. At 7 months, AT burden was significantly lower in CLS group (20.3+/-63.1min/day, P<0.01) compared to DDDR (56.0+/-184.0min/day) and DDD+ group (63.1+/-113.8min/day). APP was higher in CLS (89.0+/-13.2%) and in DDD+ group (97.9+/-2.7%) than in DDDR group (71.1+/-26.7%, P<0.001). The correlation found between AT burden and APP was very weak: at 7-month follow-up the Spearman coefficient was -0.29 (P=NS) in CLS, -0.52 (P<0.01) in DDD+, -0.22 (P=NS) in DDDR. CONCLUSIONS: CLS pacing was associated with a significantly lower AT burden,compared to the other pacing algorithms. Moreover APP was significantly higher in DDD+ and in CLS mode, than in DDDR. APP weakly correlated with AT burden only in DDD+ mode, though the lowest AT burden level was obtained in the CLS group where no significant correlation was found.