Initial clinical experience with implantation of left ventricular lead guided by Overlay Ref for the treatment of XXXX .

@entity1 @entity712
BACKGROUND: Cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) improves clinical outcome in selected @entity1 with advanced @entity712 . The Overlay Ref technique may facilitate the procedure for implanting left ventricular (LV) pacing leads to deliver CRT. AIM: To assess the feasibility of deploying a LV pacing lead into a coronary sinus side branch guided by Overlay Ref. METHODS: Data from 88 consecutive @entity1 who met the CRT implantation criteria in our hospital between 28 November 2007 and 30 December 2009 were randomly assigned to two groups. Forty-four @entity1 underwent CRT device implantation using Overlay Ref to guide target vein selection and advance a specifically designed pacing lead into the target vein (Overlay Ref group); 44 @entity1 were conventionally implanted (control group). RESULTS: LV lead implantation was successful in all @entity1 . Mean CRT total procedure times (skin-to-skin) were: Overlay Ref group, 80.7    18.0 min; control group, 98.5    32.2 min; p = 0.029. Mean placement of LV pacing lead into target vein times were: Overlay Ref group, 16.2    7.7 min; control group, 36.4    23.4 min; p=0.004. Mean total fluoroscopy times were: Overlay Ref group, 13.6    4.3 min; control group, 23.8    15.7 min; p=0.007. Mean LV lead fluoroscopy times were: Overlay Ref group, 5.7    2.9 min; control group, 14.4    4.6 min; p=0.003. No major complications occurred. CONCLUSIONS: Overlay Ref facilitates location of and entry into the coronary sinus, and shortens the duration of LV pacing lead implantation into the target vein.
