Clinical usefulness of left ventricular outflow tract velocity time integral for heart failure with reduced ejection fraction with rapid atrial fibrillation during landiolol treatment

Background: Landiolol enables us to treat the patients with rapid atrial fibrillation (AF) with acute de compensated heart failure (ADHF) efficiently. We sought to determine the role of echocardiography in predicting the prognosis. Methods: Among 314 patients, a total 115 ADHF patients with reduced ejection fraction and rapid AF were enrolled. They received landiolol treatment to decrease the heart rate (HR) to < 110 bpm and change HR (Delta HR) of > 20% within 24 h. The dose of landiolol was increased every 2 h; then, we performed echocardiography repeatedly, at baseline, 2 h, and 24h. We followed the patients after discharge for 180 days, and checked cardiac death and HF hospitalization as major adverse cardiac events (MACE). Results: During initial hospitalization, 5 patients (4%) died. During 180 days after discharge, 19 (16%) out of 115 patients experienced MACE (2 cardiac death, 17 HF rehospitalization, 5 in-hospital death). Multivariate analysis showed that the change in left ventricular outflow tract-velocity time integral (LVOT-VTI) at 2 h was the most significant predictor for MACE (hazard ratio = 1.21, 95% confidence interval: 1.10-1.83, p = 0.0001). Kaplan-Meier curves demonstrated the patients with deteriorated LVOT-VTI at minimum dose landiolol suggested the high-risk patients for MACE (chi(2) = 30.9, p < 0.0 0 01). Conclusions: During landiolol treatment, the patients with deteriorated LVOT-VTI predicted the poor prognosis. We may detect the high-risk patients by two-point echocardiography. (C) 2021 Japanese College of Cardiology. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

Echocardiography, specifically changes in left ventricular outflow tract-velocity time integral (LVOT-VTI), during Landiolol treatment plays a significant role in predicting the prognosis of patients with acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF) and rapid atrial fibrillation (AF). Deterioration of LVOT-VTI at minimum dose Landiolol suggests high-risk patients for major adverse cardiac events (MACE) and indicates poor prognosis.