Management of heart failure: use of biventricular pacing.
Congestive heart failure (CHF) is a clinical syndrome that affects more than 4 million people in the United States. The grim prognosis for this population has led to a search for new therapies to treat CHF. Resynchronization of the ventricles is one such therapy. The pathophysiology associated with conduction defects and the evolution of the use of pacing technologies for this patient population will be discussed. Early data have been encouraging, suggesting that patients may gain important hemodynamic, functional, and quality-of-life improvements with biventricular pacing.
Legge
Darlene
D
Pacemaker/Electrophysiology Department, Baylor University Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, USA.
Leeper
Barbara
B
D002304:Cardiac Pacing, Artificial; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000628:therapy*; D006352:Heart Ventricles / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans