Methods Employed to Assess Left Ventricular Ejection Fraction in Patients Referred for Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy in Poland as Compared to other European Countries. Results from the European Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Survey II.

BackgroundPrecise evaluation of left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) 35%, i.e. an indication outside of the guidelines, was found in 15.9% of PL (Polish) patients vs. 24.2% of OEC (other European countries) patients (p*).LVEF > 50% was found in 0.8% and 1.9% of patients respectively (p*).Concerning methodology, echocardiography was used in 99.2% of PL and 97.5% of OEC patients (p*).Other imaging tools such as cardiac MRI, CT and scintigraphy were used in 2.2% vs 16.7% (p*), and in 1.4% and 14.2% respectively (p*) more than one method was used. ConclusionsEchocardiographic LVEF measurement is the most frequent diagnostic tool both in Poland and OEC.Other methods such as cardiac MRI, CT and scintigraphy or multiple methods were more common in OEC than in Poland.CRT implantations, both in PL and OEC, are performed in a significant proportion of patients with LVEF > 35%.