Background The effects of trimetazidine on patients with dilated cardiomyopathy（DCM） and left bundle branch block（LBBB） are not clear. Methods Sixty consecutive patients with DCM, LBBB and heart dysfunction（35% ≤ LVEF ≤ 45%） were randomly allocated to heart failure therapy plus trimetazidine group（20 mg three times a day; 30 patients） or heart failure therapy alone group（30 patients）. During follow-up of 6months, QRS morphology, plasma NT-proBNP, 6-minute walk test（6MWT） and echocardiographic indexes were measured. Results At the 6th month, a significant functional improvement was noted in patients receiving trimetazidine added to heart failure treatment. In patients from the trimetazidine group, an increase of left ventricular ejection fraction（LVEF） was noted（from 38 ± 5.5% to 47 ± 7.1%, P = 0.020）. The increase of LVEF in the trimetazidine group was associated with a more significant reduction of the left ventricular endsystolic diameter（LVESD） compared with the control group at 6-month follow-up. The NT-pro BNP levels decreased significantly in the trimetazidine group（3.11 ± 0.47 at baseline and 2.77 ± 0.45 at 6-month followup, P 〈 0.01） and the 6MWT increased significantly in the trimetazidine group（325 ± 44 m at baseline and419 ± 56 m at 6-month follow-up, P 〈 0.01）. The differences in NT-pro BNP levels（2.77 ± 0.45 vs 2.96 ±0.46, P = 0.036） and 6MWT（419 ± 56 m vs 366 ± 54 m, P = 0.032） between the two groups were significant at 6-month follow-up. Conclusions Trimetazidine can improve LV function caused by DCM and LBBB. The positive effects of trimetazidine on LV function are especially evident in patients with optimization of drug therapy for heart failure, which strongly suggests an additive effect of these therapy modalities.
Background Left bundle branch block （LBBB） results in an altered pattern of left ventricular （LV） activation and subsequent contraction. Cardiac synchrony and cardiac function are deteriorated by LBBB. However, the effect of LBBB history on progressive heart dysfunction and clinical efficacy of cardiac resynchronization therapy （CRT） in such patients are not clear. In this study we explore the clinical efficacy and predictor of cardiac resynchronization therapy in LBBB heart dysfunction. Methods Twenty-seven LBBB patients with severe heart failure were treated with CRT. Twenty-six LBBB patients without CRT served as control. During 6 months follow-up, ECG, plasma NT-proBNP and echocardiogram indexes were measured. Results Compared with baseline, NYHA functional class of 23 patients （85.2%） was improved in CRT group. Compared with baseline and control, QRS duration （QRSd） was significantly more narrow （P = 0.023, P = 0.019）, NT-proBNP was significantly lower （P = 0.011,P = 0.009）, ventricular septal to left ventricular posterior wall delay time and left ventricular dyssynchrony index （Ts-SD） were significantly worse （P 〈 0.05）; left ventricular ejection fraction, left ventricular end-systolic volume, mitral regurgitation area were significantly improved in CRT group （P 〈 0.05）. when the LBBB history was I〉 2 years and QRSd I〉 155 ms, the sensitivity and specificity of CRT super-response were 53.4% and 85.6% respectively. Conclusions CRT can improve the synchronization and hemodynamic of LBBB patients with heart dysfunction, the LBBB history I〉 2 years and QRSd I〉 155 ms are one of the CRT super-response predictors.
