29% more heart-failure patients live with CRT-D device

William Atkins
Wednesday, 24 June 2009 19:36

Science - Health

In the study, the CRT-D device reduced the risk of death or heart failure interventions by 29% when compared with the use of a defibrillator along.

U.S. cardiologist Arthur J. Moss (University of Rochester School of Medicine), the leader of the study, stated, “We didn’t think there would be any difference in the mortality, and there was not, so all of the effect was in terms of the reduction of the development of heart failure.” [Wall Street Journal]

If eventually approved to be used for mild heart failure cases, then hundreds of thousands of U.S. citizens, all with mild heart failure, could be potential recipients of the device.

In fact, almost 22 million people around the world have some type of heart failure. In the United States, around 5.5 million people have heart failure in one form or the other.

For more information on the Boston Scientific study, go to the company’s website MADIT-CRT Meets its Primary Endpoint.

Part of the article quotes Fred Colen, president of Boston Scientific. He states, "We are very encouraged by these initial positive results, and we are hopeful they will eventually lead to a wider population of heart failure patients being treated with CRT-D therapy."

"I would like to congratulate Dr. Moss, the Executive Committee and all the MADIT-CRT investigators on a well designed and well executed clinical trial. Boston Scientific is proud to continue the tradition of supporting advances in indications in the CRM space through trials like MADIT-CRT. More than 80 percent of U.S. patients who receive an ICD or CRT-D were first indicated for this therapy by a clinical trial sponsored by Boston Scientific or its predecessors(3)."