Project description:AimsThe HINODE study aimed to analyse rates of mortality, appropriately treated ventricular arrhythmias (VA), and heart failure in Japanese patients and compared with those in Western patients.Methods and resultsAfter treatment decisions following contemporary practice in Japan, patients were prospectively enrolled into four cohorts: (i) internal cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD), (ii) cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) defibrillator (CRT-D), (iii) standard medical therapy ('non-device': ND), or (iv) pacing (indicated for CRT; received pacemaker or CRT pacing). Cohorts 1-3 required a left ventricular ejection fraction ≤35%, a history of heart failure, and a need for primary prevention of sudden cardiac death based on two to five previously identified risk factors. Endpoint outcomes were adjudicated by the independent committees. ICD and CRT-D cohorts, considered as high-voltage (HV) cohorts, were pooled for Kaplan-Meier analysis and propensity-matched to Multicenter Automatic Defibrillator Implantation Trial-Reduce Inappropriate Therapy (MADIT-RIT) arm B and C patients. The study enrolled 354 patients followed for 19.6 ± 6.5 months, with a minimum of 12 months. Propensity-matched HV cohorts showed comparable VA (P = 0.61) and mortality rates (P = 0.29) for HINODE and MADIT-RIT. The ND cohort presented a high crossover rate to ICD therapy (6.1%, n = 7/115), and the CRT-D cohort showed elevated mortality rates. The pacing cohort revealed that patients implanted with pacemakers had higher mortality (26.0%) than those with CRT-Pacing (8.4%, P = 0.05).ConclusionsThe mortality and VA event rates of landmark trials are applicable to patients with primary prevention in Japan. Patients who did not receive guideline-indicated CRT devices had poor outcomes.
Project description:AimsAvailable predictive models for sudden cardiac death (SCD) in heart failure (HF) patients remain suboptimal. We assessed whether the electrocardiography (ECG)-based artificial intelligence (AI) could better predict SCD, and also whether the combination of the ECG-AI index and conventional predictors of SCD would improve the SCD stratification among HF patients.Methods and resultsIn a prospective observational study, 4 tertiary care hospitals in Tokyo enrolled 2559 patients hospitalized for HF who were successfully discharged after acute decompensation. The ECG data during the index hospitalization were extracted from the hospitals' electronic medical record systems. The association of the ECG-AI index and SCD was evaluated with adjustment for left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), New York Heart Association (NYHA) class, and competing risk of non-SCD. The ECG-AI index plus classical predictive guidelines (i.e. LVEF ≤35%, NYHA Class II and III) significantly improved the discriminative value of SCD [receiver operating characteristic area under the curve (ROC-AUC), 0.66 vs. 0.59; P = 0.017; Delong's test] with good calibration (P = 0.11; Hosmer-Lemeshow test) and improved net reclassification [36%; 95% confidence interval (CI), 9-64%; P = 0.009]. The Fine-Gray model considering the competing risk of non-SCD demonstrated that the ECG-AI index was independently associated with SCD (adjusted sub-distributional hazard ratio, 1.25; 95% CI, 1.04-1.49; P = 0.015). An increased proportional risk of SCD vs. non-SCD with an increasing ECG-AI index was also observed (low, 16.7%; intermediate, 18.5%; high, 28.7%; P for trend = 0.023). Similar findings were observed in patients aged ≤75 years with a non-ischaemic aetiology and an LVEF of >35%.ConclusionTo improve risk stratification of SCD, ECG-based AI may provide additional values in the management of patients with HF.
Project description:BackgroundRandomized trials in Western countries have provided evidence that prophylactic implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) therapy reduces mortality in heart failure (HF) patients with reduced left ventricular ejection fraction. However, the risk of life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias in Japanese HF patients sharing similar risk factors is still unknown.MethodsThe Heart Failure Indication and Sudden Cardiac Death Prevention Trial Japan trial (NCT03185832) is a prospective, multicenter registry designed to collect data on ventricular arrhythmia, HF events, and mortality in Japanese HF patients. Japanese patients with HF and 2-5 predefined risk factors who were indicated for cardiac device implantation based on European Society of Cardiology guidelines were enrolled in four treatment arms: implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD), cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillator (CRT-D), HF pacing (PA; Pacemaker and cardiac resynchronization pacemaker), and nondevice (ND) cohorts and followed for a minimum of 12 months. Since it is anticipated that some baseline patient characteristics and risk factors will differ significantly from those reported in predominantly Western populations, event rates will be compared to a propensity-matched population from the MADIT RIT trial. Primary endpoints are composite rates of first appropriately treated ventricular arrhythmias (VA) or/and life-threatening VA symptoms for the ICD and CRT-D cohorts. For nondevice and PA cohorts, the primary outcome is all-cause mortality.ConclusionsThe Heart Failure Indication and Sudden Cardiac Death Prevention Trial Japan is a large prospective multicenter registry with defined device treatment cohorts and will provide data for risk stratification for cardiovascular events in Japanese HF patients.
Project description:BackgroundSudden cardiac death (SCD) and pump failure death (PFD) are common endpoints in chronic heart failure (CHF) patients, but prevention strategies are different. Currently used tools to specifically predict these endpoints are limited. We developed risk models to specifically assess SCD and PFD risk in CHF by combining ECG markers and clinical variables.MethodsThe relation of clinical and ECG markers with SCD and PFD risk was assessed in 597 patients enrolled in the MUSIC (MUerte Súbita en Insuficiencia Cardiaca) study. ECG indices included: turbulence slope (TS), reflecting autonomic dysfunction; T-wave alternans (TWA), reflecting ventricular repolarization instability; and T-peak-to-end restitution (ΔαTpe) and T-wave morphology restitution (TMR), both reflecting changes in dispersion of repolarization due to heart rate changes. Standard clinical indices were also included.ResultsThe indices with the greatest SCD prognostic impact were gender, New York Heart Association (NYHA) class, left ventricular ejection fraction, TWA, ΔαTpe and TMR. For PFD, the indices were diabetes, NYHA class, ΔαTpe and TS. Using a model with only clinical variables, the hazard ratios (HRs) for SCD and PFD for patients in the high-risk group (fifth quintile of risk score) with respect to patients in the low-risk group (first and second quintiles of risk score) were both greater than 4. HRs for SCD and PFD increased to 9 and 11 when using a model including only ECG markers, and to 14 and 13, when combining clinical and ECG markers.ConclusionThe inclusion of ECG markers capturing complementary pro-arrhythmic and pump failure mechanisms into risk models based only on standard clinical variables substantially improves prediction of SCD and PFD in CHF patients.
Project description:The prevention and treatment of sudden cardiac death (SCD) remains a significant public health challenge. For patients with a history of sudden death attributable to ventricular arrhythmia, implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) therapy is a mainstay of treatment, although these patients remain at high risk for recurrent ventricular arrhythmia and defibrillator therapies. In this review, we summarize landmark clinical trials evaluating the efficacy of ICD therapy in secondary prevention patients, review clinical outcomes including mode of death in survivors of SCD, and highlight the role for systematic diagnostic evaluation. We additionally discuss the invasive electrophysiological management of these patients, including ICD selection and programming as well as the role and timing of antiarrhythmic drug therapy and catheter ablation. Finally, we frame future challenges and needs to advance the care for secondary prevention patients.
Project description:Heart failure is a leading cause of death worldwide, and failing heart muscle is marked by increased O-GlcNAcylation (OGN). It is unknown if excessive OGN contributes to cardiomyopathy and heart failure. OGN modifies serines and threonines, total OGN levels follow cellular nutrient and metabolic flux in addition to net activity of O-GlcNAc transferase (OGT) and O-GlcNAcase (OGA). We developed new transgenic mouse models with myocardial delimited over-expression of OGA and OGT, and found that OGT transgenic mice developed severe cardiomyopathy and premature death. In contrast, OGA transgenic hearts had normal function, but were resistant to pathological stress. Interbreeding OGA transgenic mice rescued cardiomyopathy and premature death in OGT transgenic mice. RNA Seq and functional studies highlighted disrupted metabolism in hearts from OGT transgenic mice that was rescued by OGA transgenic interbreeding. Here we show excessive OGN causes cardiomyopathy, identify gene programs responsive to pathological OGN, and suggest attenuation of OGN may be an effective therapy for heart failure.
Project description:RationaleDespite increasing prevalence and incidence of heart failure (HF), therapeutic options remain limited. In early stages of HF, sudden cardiac death (SCD) from ventricular arrhythmias claims many lives. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) have been implicated in both arrhythmias and contractile dysfunction. However, little is known about how ROS in specific subcellular compartments contribute to HF or SCD pathophysiology. The role of ROS in chronic proteome remodeling has not been explored.ObjectiveWe will test the hypothesis that elevated mitochondrial ROS (mROS) is a principal source of oxidative stress in HF and in vivo reduction of mROS mitigates SCD.Methods and resultsUsing a unique guinea pig model of nonischemic HF that recapitulates important features of human HF, including prolonged QT interval and high incidence of spontaneous arrhythmic SCD, compartment-specific ROS sensors revealed increased mROS in resting and contracting left ventricular myocytes in failing hearts. Importantly, the mitochondrially targeted antioxidant (MitoTEMPO) normalized global cellular ROS. Further, in vivo MitoTEMPO treatment of HF animals prevented and reversed HF, eliminated SCD by decreasing dispersion of repolarization and ventricular arrhythmias, suppressed chronic HF-induced remodeling of the expression proteome, and prevented specific phosphoproteome alterations. Pathway analysis of mROS-sensitive networks indicated that increased mROS in HF disrupts the normal coupling between cytosolic signals and nuclear gene programs driving mitochondrial function, antioxidant enzymes, Ca2+ handling, and action potential repolarization, suggesting new targets for therapeutic intervention.ConclusionsmROS drive both acute emergent events, such as electrical instability responsible for SCD, and those that mediate chronic HF remodeling, characterized by suppression or altered phosphorylation of metabolic, antioxidant, and ion transport protein networks. In vivo reduction of mROS prevents and reverses electrical instability, SCD, and HF. Our findings support the feasibility of targeting the mitochondria as a potential new therapy for HF and SCD while identifying new mROS-sensitive protein modifications.
Project description:Sudden cardiac death (SCD) associated with heart failure (HF) is a multifactorial problem requiring a systems level approach applied to suitable experimental animal models with features of the human disease. Here we examine key regulatory pathways underlying the transition from compensated hypertrophy (HYP) to decompensated HF and SCD by integrated analysis of the transcriptome, proteome and metabolome. In a guinea pig model of acquired long QT syndrome and HF/SCD, relative protein abundances from sham-operated, HYP and HF hearts were assessed using isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantification (iTRAQ), prior to liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Metabolites were quantified by LC-MS/MS or gas chromatography coupled to MS (GC-MS). Transcriptome profiles were obtained using DNA microarrays. The guinea pig HF proteome exhibited classic biosignatures of cardiac HYP, left ventricular dysfunction, fibrosis, cellular degeneration, inflammation and extravasation. Fatty acid metabolism, mitochondrial transcription/translation factors, antioxidant enzymes, and other mitochondrial processes, were downregulated in HF, but not HYP. Proteins upregulated in HF are consistent with extracellular matrix remodeling, cytoskeletal remodeling, and acute phase inflammation markers. Among metabolites, downregulation of acyl-carnitines was observed in HYP, while fatty acids accumulated in HF. Levels of the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle metabolite, citrate, and the potent inhibitor, 2-methylcitrate, increased upon transition from HYP to HF. Correlation of the magnitude of transcript and protein changes in HF is weak (R2=0.23), indicating that targeting transcript/proteome may reveal inform post-transcriptional gene regulation in HF. Proteome/Metabolome integration suggests metabolic bottlenecks in fatty acyl-CoA processing by carnitine palmitoyl transferase (CPT1B) as well as TCA cycle inhibition. We present a model in which hallmarks of acute signaling in HF, including Ca2+ dysregulation and low cAMP levels, are coupled to mitochondrial metabolic and antioxidant defects, through a CREB/PGC1-alpha transcriptional axis.