New heart failure therapy shown to be effective for women

New therapy for heart failure proves to be more effective on women than on men, study says.

The researchers used a device used for heart failure, the cardiac resynchronization therapy with defibrillator (CRT-D).

The CRT-D serves two purposes when used in patients with heart failure. One, it is a defibrillator; when it detects abnormality in the heart rhythm, it is responsible for shocking the heart back to normal rhythm. The second is it synchronizes the left and right ventricles of the heart by generating minute electrical impulses in order for both sides to work in coordination, resulting in a more effective heart pump.

The CRT-D device is generally used a therapy for severe heart failure and for preventing the progression of mild heart failure.

In the study conducted on a sample of 1,820 patients, it showed that the CRT-D offered to be more promising when used in women. Heart failure and mortality was reduced in the women compared to men.

Researchers explained that the differences in the results were due to the fact the women’s heart disease were mostly non-ischemic, as opposed to the men whose heart disease were mostly ischemic. Also, women were more likely to have problems with electrical activity of the heart, which meant that they would benefit more with the use the CRT-D.