Abstract Background With the increasing number of implanted cardiac pacemakers, ICDs and CRTs, the number of serious infectious complications of these procedures increases significantly, especially in the longer term from the primary implantation. The systematic solution is in most cases endovasal extraction of these systems. Methods In a multicenter, prospective, randomized, controlled trial evaluating the benefit of CIEDS infection management in 277 patients, a conventional approach using blood cultures, microbiological examinations and TEE versus innovative management of these patients using PET-CT was compared. PET-CT examination is able to differentiate very well the infection of the implant pocket (Figure A) against bacterial endocarditis (Figure B). Thanks to this, it is possible to individualize the management of the patient and to shorten the dates of hospitalization, resp. time to re-implantation of the new system in patients without the presence of bacterial endocarditis. Results The results of the multicentre study are summarized in Table 1. Conclusions A comprehensive examination of patients with CDRIE using PET-CT significantly shortens hospital stay, time of antibiotic therapy and, as a consequence, leads to a lower incidence of serious complications of extraction procedures. PET-CT in CDRIE patients Funding Acknowledgement Type of funding source: None

Methods: The entire coding sequence of KCNQ1, KCNH2, SCN5A, KCNE1, and KCNE2 genes was analyzed in 45 (five females) CAD individuals-survivors of documented VF and in 90 matched healthy controls. In another control group of 141 matched patients with CAD without malignant arrhythmias, the exons containing rare coding variants found in the VF survivors were sequenced.Results: The carrier frequency of all the rare sequence variants was significantly higher in the VF survivors (8/45, 17.8%) than in CAD controls (3/141, 2.2%, P = 0.001). In VF survivors, four coding variants in eight individuals were found. Three in KCNH2 gene: R148W and GAG186del are novel; P347S was previously related to long QT syndrome. In SCN5A gene, P2006A variant was found in five unrelated males. This variant has been demonstrated previously to have small effect on sodium channel kinetics. No rare coding variants were found in the healthy controls. The P2006A variant was found in three CAD controls.Conclusion: The prevalence of selected, rare coding variants in five long QT genes was significantly higher in cases versus controls, confirming a mechanistic role for these genes among a subgroup of patients with coronary disease and VF. (PACE 2011; 1-8).

The aim of this study was a comparison of risk stratification for death in patients after myocardial infarction (MI) and of risk stratification for malignant arrhythmias in patients with implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD). The individual risk factors and more complex approaches were used, which take into account that a borderline between a risky and non-risky value of each predictor is not clear-cut (fuzzification of a critical value) and that individual risk factors have different weight (area under receiver operating curve - AUC or Sommers' D - Dxy). The risk factors were baroreflex sensitivity, ejection fraction and the number of ventricular premature complexes/hour on Holter monitoring. Those factors were evaluated separately and they were involved into logit model and fuzzy models (Fuzzy, Fuzzy-AUC, and Fuzzy-Dxy). Two groups of patients were examined: a) 308 patients 7-21 days after MI (23 patients died within period of 24 month); b) 53 patients with left ventricular dysfunction examined before implantation of ICD (7 patients with malignant arrhythmia and electric discharge within 11 month after implantation). Our results obtained in MI patients demonstrated that the application of logit and fuzzy models was superior over the risk stratification based on algorithm where the decision making is dependent on one parameter. In patients with implanted defibrillator only logit method yielded statistically significant result, but its reliability was doubtful because all other tests were statistically insignificant. We recommend evaluating the data not only by tests based on logit model but also by tests based on fuzzy models.

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was an analysis of patients with ICD implanted in primary prevention (PP) in long-term follow-up and comparison with data obtained in secondary prevention patients (SP). PATIENTS AND METHODS We assessed 73 patients with PP ICD and 138 patients with SP ICD. Males were in majority with 88% in PP group and 78% in SP group. The average age was 63 years. Majority of patients suffered from coronary artery disease. The mean ejection fraction (LV EF) was 28% in PP patients and 38% in SP patients. The number of affected coronary arteries and medication were similar in both groups. We compared the occurrence of intercurrent diseases, malignant arrhythmias, inappropriate therapies, hospital readmissions and patients' survival. RESULTS PP patients had lower LV EF ejection fraction (p < 0.001), higher number of revascularized arteries (p < 0.001) and lower occurrence of inappropriate therapies and arrhythmic storms (p < 0.001). There was higher number of patients with diabetes (p = 0.009), dyslipidemia (p < 0.001) and cerebral artery disease (p = 0.017) among those in PP group. Renal insufficiency was related to a higher risk of death. CONCLUSIONS Patients with PP ICD implantation have lower LVEF, and more intercurrent diseases then patients with ICD implanted form SP reasons. Their myocardium is more often revascularized and the occurrence of inappropriate therapy is low. Arrhythmic storm is a typical feature of patients with ICD implanted in secondary prevention.

UNLABELLED:The heart rate turbulence is promising marker of a sudden cardiac death. The aim of the study is to evaluate the influence of the ventricular premature beat (VPB) coupling interval on the values of turbulence onset (TO) and turbulence slope (TS) parameters in the three groups of patients--"healthy" with ventricular premature beats, pts post myocardial infarction (MI) and pts with chronic heart failure with the left ventricle ejection fraction (LVEF) < 0.35.PATIENTS AND METHODS:382 pts were examined: healthy--149, post MI--123 and LVEF < 0.35 - 110. The distribution ofVPB was analyzed and the values ofTO and TS were evaluated according to the coupling intervals of VPB--in the intervals 00-50, 51-100 (% of RR interval) and in the intervals 34-66 and 67-100 (% of RR interval).RESULTS:The coupling interval of spontaneous ventricular premature beats cause the statistically significant variability HRT values in all three groups of pts.CONCLUSION:The values of TO in the groups of post MI pts and pts with chronic heart failure are higher (risky for sudden cardiac death) after VPB with longer coupling intervals (50-100%, event. 67-100% of RR interval). The TS values are lower (risky for sudden cardiac death) after VPB with longer coupling interval, too. For evaluation of HRT we should use the VPBs with long coupling intervals.

62 years old patient was admitted to the hospital with weakness of lower extremities. Using laboratory examination, we found very severe hyponatrenaemia, hypochloraemia and hypotonia of blood plasma, because of SIADH. We searched for the cause of that syndrome and finally we found that the cause of that syndrome was small cell lung cancer with an expansion into the mediastinum and metastases into the skelet.

BACKGROUND:The number of patients with pacemakers is icreasing. The first reason is longer survival, the second reason is widening indications to cardiostimulation. Along with increasing numbers of performances, we have to recken larger number of complications and these complications solve so, that we avoid more serious damage of a patient.METHODS AND RESULTS:In our article we focused an possible complications in the area of pacemaker pockets, monitored their appearence, watched the type of complication, the danger of the creation infection endocarditis and we present our own experiences with solving such complications. From the total numer of 3978 surgical interventions was 141 patients indicated for the revision of the pocket.CONCLUSIONS:Repeated controls of the pocket and early reported of the patients to the specialised clinic is necessary for the safety of tke patients with pacemakers.

Some studies have demonstrated circadian incidence of sudden cardiac death (SCD), ventricular ectopies, acute coronary syndromes and heart rate variability. One of new parameters applied in non-invasive stratification of sudden cardiac death is heart rate turbulence (HRT). Detection of circadian oscillations in HRT and optimised measurement of HRT can increase the positive predictive value of HRT as a sign of SCD risk. The set consisted of 48 patients in a sequence order aged 45 +/- 12 years (of which 23 men and 25 women), indicated for Holter monitoring ofventricular ectopies who had good left ventricular function with LV EF 0.53 +/- 0.11. HRT was measured in two-hour intervals within a 24 hour period, followed by an analysis of circadian dependence of HRT. A significant circadian oscillation in the TS (turbulence slope) parameter was recorded. No circadian signs were detected for the TO (turbulence onset) parameter. The project is supported by grant no. NR/8478-3.

BACKGROUND:Some study reported circadian occurence of sudden cardiac death, ventricle ectopic activity, acute coronary syndromes and heart rate variability. Heart rate turbulence (HRT) is one of a new markers of noninvasive stratification of sudden cardiac death.METHODS AND RESULTS:We have evaluated HRT in 120 consecutive patiens post myocardial infarction in mean age 62.7+/-12.4 years (90 M, 30 W), indicated for ecg Holter monitoring with LVEF 0.45+/-0.12 in 2hours interval during 24 hours. We have analysed circadian variation of the HRT.CONCLUSIONS:The statistically significant circadian patterns were found in turbulence slope parameter of HRT. No significant changes for turbulence onset parameter were described.

Background Myocardial infarction survivors may develop a higher risk of sudden cardiac death. The risk markers: left ventricular ejection fraction, ventricular premature beats, late potentials on averaged ECG, baroreflex sensitivity and heart rate variability are used as non-invasive stratification markers. Methods and results Occurrence of the autonomic and morphologic dysfunction risk markers in the myocardial infarction patients treated by thrombolysis and by primary percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) is compared. We studied a cohort of 48 acute myocardial infarction survivors treated by primary PTCA and 96 patients treated by thrombolysis. Conclusions Patients treated by primary PTCA had significantly lower occurrence of premature ventricular beats and pathological parameters of the heart rate variability.

BACKGROUND:A common ICD therapy-related complication is arrhythmic storm (AS). The objective of our study was to define the impact of AS on patients' prognoses in order to compare the total mortality of AS patients with the rest of the group.MATERIAL/METHODS:We studied 138 patients who received ICDs between 1994 and 2001. Patients who experienced one or more arrhythmic storms were statistically compared with patients who had no accumulation of malignant arrhythmia or no episodes.RESULTS:One thousand four hundred ninety episodes of arrhythmia were analyzed. Arrhythmia recurrence was present in 71% of the patients. The majority of episodes (78%) were ventricular tachycardias and only 3% of episodes were ventricular fibrillation. Seventy percent of all arrhythmic episodes were asymptomatic. The ICD therapy sensitivity was 99.7%. Thirty-eight arrhythmic storms in 19 patients (14%) were observed during follow-up. The occurrence of AS was twice as high among patients with LVEF <35% than the rest of the group (18% vs. 8%). The total survival of patients with AS was significantly lower than that of the ICD patients who did not experience an AS (36.8% vs. 16.8%, p=0.042). All episodes of arrhythmic clusters during the AS were ventricular tachycardias.CONCLUSIONS:Arrhythmic storm is a serious risk marker for cardiac death. Ventricular tachycardia is a basic rhythm disorder of AS episodes and occurs significantly more often than ventricular fibrillation. Arrhythmic storm is responsible for a 4.6 times more frequent re-admission to hospital.

Methods: we studied 64 pts with frequent PVBs, divided according to their complexity: 26 pts with > 10 PVBs/hour (Group I), 32 pts with non sustained ventricular tachycardia (NSVT) (Group ll), 6 pts with sustained VT or fibrillation (VF) during Hoker recording (Group llI).Eleven pts with an ICD and a history of VT/VF (but no NSVT or VT during Hoker recording) were also considered (Group IV).Standard deviation of normal RR intervals (SDNN) and HRT were calculated on the same 24 hour Holter recording.Cut-off values for HRT were Turbulence Onset (TO) <0% and Turbulence Slope (TS) >2.5 msec/RR-i.Results: no significant difference in mean age, gender and SDNN values was observed.Pts who presented VT or VF at Hoker recordings had a marked alteration of HRT parameters, which were statistically different from both Group II and I.In particular TS < 2.5 msec/RR-i was detectable in all Group Ill subjects and only in 34% and 27% of, respectively, Group II and I pts (figure).Of interest was the finding that HRT and HRV values of Group IV patients (ICD) were not significantly different from any of the other groups, with mean values similar to those observed in Group II (NSVT). Turbulence Slope resuksConclusions: our data suggest that HRT is more sensitive than HRV analysis to detect transient alterations in neural control mechanisms that may favour the occurrence of VT/VE The finding that abnormalities in HRT indices were more common in pts with VT/VF during Holter recording than in patients with ICD emphasises the capability of HRT to unmask transient alterations in neural control mechanisms likely to play a maj or pro-arrhythmic role.

The endothelins are peptides with vasoconstricting and growth-promoting properties. Endothelin-1 (ET-1) is known with its direct positive inotropic and chronotropic effects on isolated heart and with growth effects. The aim of this pilot study was to investigate the frequency distribution of the common polymorphism of the ET-1 gene and its possible relation with hemodynamic consequences of malignant ventricular arrhythmias in patients with structural heart disease. We studied 26 consecutive patients with malignant ventricular arrhythmias and implantable cardioverterdefibrillators with a mean age of 62.7 +/- 12.2 years and a mean left ventricular ejection fraction of 0.37 +/- 11.0. Taq polymorphism of ET-1 was detected using our original polymerase chain reaction method. The polymerase chain reaction product with a length of 358 basepairs (bp) (primers 5'-CAA ACC GAT GTC CTC TGT A-3' and 5'-ACC AAA CAC ATT TCC CTA TT-3') in its non-mutated form contains a target sequence for TaqI restrictive enzyme, while a mutated product loses this cleavage site. Of 26 patients, nine (34%) had recurrent palpitations and eight (30.8%) had syncopes during their malignant arrhythmias. Nineteen patients were given amiodarone after implantable cardioverter-defibrillator insertion and seven were not treated with amiodarone. Fifteen patients had (++), 11 (+-) and 0 (- -) ET-1 genotype. The risk for syncopes was associated with the (++) genotype of the ET-1 gene (P = 0.01). Patients receiving amiodarone had significantly higher frequency of the (++) genotype (P = 0.011). All our results indicate that the presence of the ET-1 genotype (++) in patients with structural heart disease, severe left ventricular dysfunction and malignant ventricular arrhythmias increases the risk for these patients of hemodynamic collapse during these arrhythmias.

BACKGROUND:Using implantable cardioverter-defibrillators in treatment of malignant ventricular arrhythmias revealed new complications specific to this therapy. Inappropriate therapy, arrhythmic storm and device related proarrhythmia belong to the most significant complications. The authors describe specific complications in a group of ICD patients, analyze their etiology and prognostic value. There are some recommendations for the management of specific complications. METHODS AND RESULTS:138 consecutive patients underwent ICD implantation between 1994-2001. Median follow-up was 47,35 months. Average left ventricular ejection fraction was 38 +/- 14% and 71% of patients suffered from coronary artery disease. From the total of 2490 arrhythmic episodes 1490 were evaluated in detail. 253 episodes (17%) were classified as inappropriate therapy. The most common etiology of inappropriate therapy was atrial fibrillation with rapid ventricular response (68%), atrial flutter (13%) and sinus tachycardia (11%). After the therapeutic intervention, 65% of them remained free of inappropriate therapy. There were 38 arrhythmic storms in 19 patients as another serious complication. CONCLUSIONS:All the observed arrhythmic episodes were ventricular tachycardias (p<0.04). Patients with arrhythmic storm in history had significantly lower survival (p<0.05). The risk factors of cardiac nonsudden death were: age >66 years, left ventricular ejection fraction <35% and arrhythmic storm history. The authors present recommendations for the treatment of the most common specific ICD complications.

Implantable cardioverter defibrillators have become an integral part of treatment of patients with malignant chamber arrhythmias over last 10 years both in secondary and primary prevention of sudden deaths. Based on monitoring of a group of 182 patients and based on information in literature, authors present a survey of the most frequent situations, rules and complications related to therapy with implantable defibrillators. In the end they try to answer summary of the most frequent questions of internal medicine physicians and GPs concerning patients with this implanted device.

A circadian distribution has been demonstrated in episodes of sudden cardiac death, acute myocardial infarction, ventricular premature complexes, heart rate variability, and ventricular tachyarrhythmias. The aim of this study was to evaluate the circadian distribution of ventricular tachyarrhythmia episodes in a population of ICD patients. Data were gathered from 72 patients (55 men, 17 women; mean age 62.7 +/- 12.2 years, mean LVEF 0.0037 +/- 0.0011) with ICDs implanted for standard indications. Patients were followed every 3 months over a mean period of 21 +/- 12.8 months. At each examination, symptoms at arrhythmia onset and perception of ICD therapy were recorded, and the ICD memory was interrogated. During follow-up, 1,023 episodes' of malignant ventricular arrhythmias were detected and effectively terminated, 506 of which were fully analyzed. A morning peak in ventricular tachyarrhythmias was demonstrated between 7:00 and 11:00 AM, and an afternoon peak between 6:00 and 7:00 PM. A significantly lower occurrence of VT was observed at 1:00 AM and between 4:00 and 6:00 AM. A circadian distribution in the occurrence of ventricular tachycardias was found. The three striking features of the data are: the early morning peak (about three hours after waking up), relatively stable incidence throughout waking hours, and decline in incidence in the previous period.