RESEARCH ARTICLE
The Effect of Concomitant Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy on Quality of Life in Patients with Heart Failure Undergoing Cardiac Surgery
Emma Thorén *, 1, Milos Kesek 2, Lena Jidéus 1
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2014Volume: 8
First Page: 18
Last Page: 22
Publisher ID: TOCMJ-8-18
DOI: 10.2174/1874192401408010018
Article History:
Received Date: 11/11/2013Revision Received Date: 15/1/2014
Acceptance Date: 20/1/2014
Electronic publication date: 21/2/2014
Collection year: 2014

open-access license: This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.
Abstract
Objectives:
To evaluate the effect of concomitant cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) on health related quality of life (QoL) in patients with heart failure (HF) and ventricular dyssynchrony undergoing cardiac surgery.
Methods:
Twenty-eight patients received permanent epicardial CRT in connection to coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) and/or aortic valve replacement (AVR) (CRT group). Thirty-seven HF patients without concomitant CRT served as a comparison group (non-CRT group). SF-36 was used to assess QoL in the two groups and was also compared with the general Swedish population.
Results:
The median follow-up time was 28 months after surgery (range 8 to 44 months). No difference in QoL could be shown between the CRT group and the comparison group. Several subscales of QoL in the CRT group were in range with the general Swedish population.
Conclusion:
Concomitant CRT for patients with HF and ventricular dyssynchrony undergoing CABG and/or AVR did not result in a higher estimated QoL compared to HF patients without CRT.