Current guidelines recommend cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT), previously known as biventricular pacing, in patients with left ventricular (LV) systolic dysfunction (ejection fraction [EF] 35%), QRS prolongation ( 120 ms), and New York Heart Association (NYHA) class III or IV heart failure (HF).1 These recommendations come after multiple prospective, randomized trials demonstrated the be...

In recent years, cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) has emerged as an important therapeutic strategy in patients with advanced heart failure. It has become common practice to use CRT in combination with implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (so-called CRT-D) in patients with impaired left ventricular systolic function and New York Heart Association (NYHA) class III symptoms.1 Evidence is ...

PURPOSE This study aimed to determine whether upgrade cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) shows better outcomes than de novo CRT. To do so, we compared the efficacy of CRT between de novo and upgrade groups, focusing particularly on the effect of upgrade CRT on patients with pacing-induced cardiomyopathy (PiCM). MATERIALS AND METHODS PiCM was defined as new-onset dilated cardiomyopathy fo...

Calreticulin (CRT) is a well-known "eat-me" signal harbored by dying cells participating in their recognition by phagocytes. CRT is also recognized to deeply impact the immune response to altered self-cells. In this study, we focus on the role of the newly exposed CRT following cell death induction. We show that if CRT increases at the outer face of the plasma membrane and is well recognized by...

The ability to predict the response to chemoradiation therapy (CRT) by contrast-enhanced CT would be valuable for managing esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of Perfusion CT to predict the response to CRT in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Thirty-one consecutive patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma underwent...

BACKGROUND Cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) is an established treatment in patients with end-stage heart failure and wide QRS complex. However, about 30% of patients do not benefit from CRT (non-responder). Recent studies with tissue Doppler imaging yielded disappointing results in predicting CRT responders. Phase analysis was developed to allow assessment of LV dyssynchrony by gated sin...

Cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) is a relatively new therapy for patients with symptomatic heart failure resulting from systolic dysfunction. CRT is achieved by simultaneously pacing both the left and right ventricles. Biventricular pacing resynchronizes the timing of global left ventricular depolarization and improves mechanical contractility and mitral regurgitation. Published clinical...

BACKGROUND Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy (CRT) is indicated for the treatment of advanced heart failure with severe systolic dysfunction and intraventricular conduction delay. Patient selection for this technology is vital, though it remains unclear which patients benefit most from CRT. We tested the hypothesis that patients with non-ischemic cardiomyopathy have a superior mortality benefit...

Background: 3DCRT (three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy) and IMRT (intensity-modulated radiotherapy) has provided us with tools to delineate the radiation dose distribution of tumor targets. However, the precision of radiation can be compromised by respiratory motion, which usually limits the geometric and dosimetric accuracy of radiotherapy. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the imp...