MADIT-CRT: Good News for Devices in Heart Failure, But Will Referring Physicians Care?

Executive Summary

Proponents of cardiac resynchronization devices with a defibrillation function expect the recently released results of the MADIT-CRT trial to give a long-awaited boost to the overall implantable cardioverter defibrillator market. Boston Scientific Corp., the sponsor of the study, expects the FDA to soon expand the indication for its CRT devices to the roughly 70% of heart failure patients worldwide in New York Heart Association heart failure Class I or Class II, reflecting the improvements in hospitalization and ventricular output linked to CRT in the trial.