Published in:
01-04-2019 | Editorial
Noninvasive myocardial blood flow assessment: Another marker of arrhythmic risk?
Authors:
Alejandro Velasco, MD, Harish Doppalapudi, MD
Published in:
Journal of Nuclear Cardiology
|
Issue 2/2019
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Excerpt
Left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) is one of the most important predictors of risk for cardiac arrest and sudden cardiac death (SCD) and is currently used as the main parameter to determine which patients will benefit from prophylactic ICD placement.
1 However, LVEF alone has limited sensitivity and specificity for assessing arrhythmic risk. Many patients receiving an ICD based on current guidelines (LVEF ≤ 35%) do not use it over several years of follow up.
2 Advances in heart failure therapy may further diminish the benefit derived from ICD placement in some groups, as suggested by the recent DANISH study.
3 On the other hand, it is well known that some patients with relatively preserved LVEF have a high risk of SCD.
4,
5 …
