Abstract
To the Editor:
Ruschitzka et al. (Oct. 10 issue)
1
report that in the Echocardiography Guided Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy (EchoCRT) study involving patients with systolic heart failure and a QRS duration of less than 130 msec, cardiac-resynchronization therapy (CRT) failed to reduce the rate of death from any cause or hospitalization for heart failure. The authors, however, fail to present data elaborating whether CRT improved the measured variables of mechanical dyssynchrony at follow-up. This is especially relevant, because mechanical dyssynchrony represents the culmination of multiple disease processes, including electrical dyssynchrony, myocardial stress, and myocardial fibrosis.
2
CRT primarily improves electrical dyssynchrony but . . .
