Telemedical cardiac risk assessment by implantable cardiac monitors in patients after myocardial infarction with autonomic dysfunction (SMART-MI-DZHK9): a prospective investigator-initiated, randomised, multicentre, open-label, diagnostic trial
Authors: Axel Bauer, Nikolay Sappler, Lukas von Stülpnagel, Mathias Klemm, Michael Schreinlechner, Felix Wenner, Johannes Schier, Amani Al Tawil, Theresa Dolejsi, Aresa Krasniqi, Elodie Eiffener, Christa Bongarth, Markus Stühlinger, Martin Huemer, Tommaso Gori, Reza Wakili, Riza Sahin, Robert Schwinger, Matthias Lutz, Armin Luik, Nele Gessler, Peter Clemmensen, Axel Linke, Lars S Maier, Martin Hinterseer, Mathias C Busch, Florian Blaschke, Stefan Sack, Carsten Lennerz, Manuela Licka, Roland R Tilz, Christian Ukena, Joachim R Ehrlich, Markus Zabel, Georg Schmidt, Ulrich Mansmann, Stefan Kääb, Konstantinos D Rizas, Steffen Massberg, Andreas May, Peter Seitzer, Roland Schmidt, Dritan Keta, Andreas May, Viktoria Janke, Christian Schläger, Elisabeth André, Niels Brandt, Alexandra Schön, Alfred Zollner, Luisa Freyer, Wolfgang Hamm, Johannes Beil, Anna Katharina Strüven, Anja Loew, Stephanie Fichtner, Philipp Lange, Aresa Krasniqi, Ulrich Grabmeier, Heidi Estner, Philipp Bengel, Lars Lüthje, Aleksandra Kirova, Thomas Fischer, Leonard Bergau, Jonas Herting, Simon Schlögl, Helge Haarmann, Klaudia Schlögl (Illes), Ekrem Uecer, Sabine Sag, Maria Tafelmeier, Carsten Jungbauer, Sabine Fredersdorf-Hahn, Christina Strack, Benedikt Seither, Joachim Seegers, Dominic Millenaar, Jan Wintrich, Patrick Fischer, Axel Buob, Amjad Razouk, Thomas Demming, Johanne Frank, Constantin Kühl, Ulrike Ellendt, Sarah Sandrock, Julia Gänsbacher, Janosch Cupa, Daniel Sinnecker, Karl-Ludwig Laugwitz, Alexander Steger, Anna Berkefeld, Karin Schinke, Petra Barthel, Michael Dommasch, Maiwand Amadei, Gerhard Hindricks, Danilo Obradovic, Michael Döring, Kerstin Bode, Sebastian Hilbert, Susanne Löbe, Helge Knopp, Sebastian König, Silke John, Katharina Schöne, Philipp Hartung, Christian Binner, Christine Meyer-Zürn, Martin Duckheim, Christian Eick, Fabian Simpfle, Jürgen Schreieck, Lars Mizera, Verena Tscholl, Lisa Steinbeck, Nadija Güc, Anne-Sophie Schatz, Philipp Attanasio, Andrea Heuberger, Mattias Roser, Barbara Bellmann, Patrick Nagel, Sebastian Biewener, Saba Suhail, Benjamin Juri, Christian Meyer, Stephan Wiilems, Christiane Jungen, Susanne Schmitt, Paula Münkerer, Julia Vogler, Lukas Kaiser, Benjamin Schäffer, Moritz Nies, Tobias Tönnis, Nina Fluschnik, Hanno Grahn, Christoph Waldeyer, Shinwan Kany, Nils Arne Sörensen, Simon Winkelmann, Özge Akbulak, Nils Arne Gosau, Tilman Würger, Natalie Arnold, Nele Geßler, Alexander Jobs, Paula Münkler, Stefan Rausch, Jelena Köster, Ben Brüggemann, Amr Abdin, Christian Wacker, Philipp Grotherr, Bastian Fries, Maximilian Faust, Stefanie Steuer, Patrick Swojanowsky, Tobias Tönnis, Stephan Willems, Nathaniel Portz, Amar Ujeyl, Matthias Krüger, Nele Geßler, Robert Gramlich, Till Köhler, Armin Sause, Ina Nover, Athanasios-Panagiotis Ziakos, Veaceslav Ciobanu, Norman Spelsberg, Johannes Siebermair, Amir-Abbas Mahabadi, Miriam Köhler, Nadine Vonderlin, Lisa Riesinger, Edison Abdiu, Anja Bachmann, Marie Frenzel, Astrid Hummel, Kristin Lehnert, Anne Krüger, Franke Busse, Andreas Napp, Dirk Müller-Wieland, Simone Battermann, Philipp Lacour, Tobias Trippel, Nick Lasse Beetz, Leonhard Schleußner, Veronika Zach, Christina Rozados, Harald Mudra, Stephan Staubach, Alexander Illmann, Michael Joner, Matthias Bock, Christof Kolb, Tobias Koch, Rebecca Fröhlich, Carsten Lennerz, Tobias Lenz, Patrick Fuchs, Markus Freißmuth, Christian Grebmer, Jürgen Kuschyk, Malte Kranert, Fabian Fastenrath, Gökhan Yücel, Boris Rudic, Sarah Würfel, Albrecht Römer, Andreas Böhmer, Jörg Honold, Stamatis Georgopoulos, Lukas Gleirscher, Susanne Lederle, Artem Chaplygin, Matthias Pauschinger, Andrea Brinker-Paschke, Jana Kropacek, Lars Eckardt, Christian Ellermann, Niklas Bode, Florian Reinke, Hauke Engelke, Robert Höllriegel, Felix Woitek, Ephraim Winzer, Karim Ibrahim, Christian Pflücke, Georg Ende, Uwe Speiser, Stephan Haußig, Rolf Wachter, Tobias Uhe, Torsten Konrad, Edgar Zitron, Jeton Destani, Fangyi Fu, Samer Al Said, Ziya Kaya, Wilfried Schgör, Thomas Senoner
Journal: The Lancet Digital Health (2022)

BackgroundCardiac autonomic dysfunction after myocardial infarction identifies patients at high risk despite only moderately reduced left ventricular ejection fraction. We aimed to show that telemedical monitoring with implantable cardiac monitors in these patients can improve early detection of subclinical but prognostically relevant arrhythmic events.MethodsWe did a prospective investigator-initiated, randomised, multicentre, open-label, diagnostic trial at 33 centres in Germany and Austria. Survivors of acute myocardial infarction with left ventricular ejection fraction of 36–50% had biosignal analysis for assessment of cardiac autonomic function. Patients with abnormal periodic repolarisation dynamics (≥5·75 deg2) or abnormal deceleration capacity (≤2·5 ms) were randomly assigned (1:1) to telemedical monitoring with implantable cardiac monitors or conventional follow-up. Primary endpoint was time to detection of serious arrhythmic events defined by atrial fibrillation 6 min or longer, atrioventricular block class IIb or higher and fast non-sustained (>187 beats per min; ≥40 beats) or sustained ventricular tachycardia or fibrillation. This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02594488.FindingsBetween May 12, 2016, and July 20, 2020, 1305 individuals were screened and 400 patients at high risk were randomly assigned (median age 64 years [IQR 57–73]); left ventricular ejection fraction 45% [40–48]) to telemedical monitoring with implantable cardiac monitors (implantable cardiac monitor group; n=201) or conventional follow-up (control group; n=199). During median follow-up of 21 months, serious arrhythmic events were detected in 60 (30%) patients of the implantable cardiac monitor group and 12 (6%) patients of the control group (hazard ratio 6·33 [IQR 3·40–11·78]; p<0·001). An improved detection rate by implantable cardiac monitors was observed for all types of serious arrhythmic events: atrial fibrillation 6 min or longer (47 [23%] patients vs 11 [6%] patients; p<0·001), atrioventricular block class IIb or higher (14 [7%] vs 0; p<0·001) and ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation (nine [4%] patients vs two [1%] patients; p=0·054).InterpretationIn patients at high risk after myocardial infarction and cardiac autonomic dysfunction but only moderately reduced left ventricular ejection fraction, telemedical monitoring with implantable cardiac monitors was highly effective in early detection of subclinical, prognostically relevant serious arrhythmic events.FundingGerman Centre for Cardiovascular Research (DZHK) and Medtronic Bakken Research Center.