Application of echocardiography in resynchronization treatment of heart failure patients

OBJECTIVE: To review the updated research progress about the application of echocardiography in resynchronization treatment of chronic heart failure patients. DATA SOURCES: The data used in this review were from PubMed, published in English and using the key terms heart failure , echocardiography and cardiac resynchronization therapy . STUDY SELECTION: Relevant articles were reviewed and selected to address the stated purpose. RESULTS: Increasing numbers of studies have suggested the importance of echocardiography in resynchronization treatment of chronic heart failure patients. Echocardiography can evaluate atrioventricular, inter- and intra-ventricular mechanical dyssynchrony before cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT), as a guidance to assess the optimal left ventricular (LV) pacing location, optimize the atrioventricular and interventricular delays and predict response to CRT. CONCLUSIONS: Echocardiography is both non invasive and easily repeatable, and plays a crucial role in appraisal of heart synchronism, instruction of actuator placement, optimization of the device procedure, and prediction of the response to CRT.