2. Materials and Methods
Data for the present study was obtained from an institutional advanced
heart failure registry that prospectively collected demographic,
clinical, echocardiography, invasive and outcome data from patients with
advanced heart failure that are candidates for LVAD implantation or
cardiac transplantation. All patients that were aged 18 years and older,
had complete pre-implantation and follow-up records and had an LVAD
implanted in a non-emergent setting were considered eligible for the
present analysis. Per registry protocol, all patients have offline
echocardiographic images recorded and stored prior to LVAD implantation.
Patients with missing echocardiographic or catheterization data that
would prevent calculating PDI or other parameters used in statistical
analyses were excluded. No other exclusion criteria were used. Out of 54
patients that were initially assessed for eligibility, 49 were included
to the final analysis after applying these criteria.
Demographic, clinical, laboratory and catheterization data were obtained
using registry data. Echocardiographic measurements and analyses were
done using stored offline images as detailed below. No specific written
consent was sought for the present study, but a written consent from all
patients were obtained prior to inclusion to the institutional registry.
Present study was carried out according to the principles of the
Declaration of Helsinki in 1975, and a local ethic committee approval
was obtained.