The impact of multipole pacing on left ventricular function in patients with cardiac resynchronization therapy - A real-time three-dimensional echocardiography approach

Background: Cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) is standard of care in heart failure (HF), however this technique is associated with a non-responder rate of 30%. Multipole pacing (MPP) with a quadripolar lead may optimize CRT and responder rate by creating two electrical wave fronts in the left ventricular (LV) myocardium simultaneously in order to reduce mechanical dyssynchrony. The objective of this study was to investigate the acute impact of MPP on LV function by assessing systolic dyssynchrony index (SDI) and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) via real-time three-dimensional echocardiography (RT3DE).

Methods: In 41 consecutive patients (87.8% male; mean age 66.0 ± 12.7 years) who received CRT defibrillators with a quadripolar LV lead, RT3DE datasets were acquired the day after implantation under the following pacing configurations: Baseline AAI, conventional biventricular pacing using distal or proximal LV poles and MPP. Datasets were analyzed in paired samples evaluating SDI and LVEF depending on programmed pacing modality.

Results: MPP resulted in statistically significant reduction of SDI compared to baseline (6.3%; IQR 4.4-7.8 and 9.9%; IQR 8.0-12.7; p < 0.001) and to conventional biventricular pacing using distal (7.6%; IQR 6.5-9.1; p < 0.001) or proximal (7.4%; IQR 6.2-8.8; p < 0.001) LV poles respectively. MPP yielded significant increase in LVEF compared to baseline (30.6%; IQR 25.8-37.5 and 27.2%; IQR 21.1-33.6; p < 0.001) and to conventional biventricular pacing configuration with distal (28.1%; IQR 22.1-34.5; p < 0.001) or proximal (28.6%; IQR 23.2-34.9; p < 0.001) LV poles respectively.

Conclusions: Multipole pacing improves mechanical dyssynchrony of the left ventricular myocardium as assessed by SDI and LVEF.