Companion Study: Rationale

Abstract

The heart failure pandemic afflicts 5 million people in the United States, accounts for 900,000 hospitalizations and causes or contributes to 300,000 deaths per years [1–3]. Pharmacologic therapy reduces heart failure progression, morbidity and mortality but still leaves many patients with symptoms and shortened survival. Thus any new modality such as cardiac resynchroniza- tion therapy (with or without backup defibrillation) has important implications for patient clinical status and, perhaps, survival.