THEW and Northwestern University collaborate to host Holter ECGs from the DEFINITE Trial in the THEW.
Database: E-HOL-03-0401-017

CP2

The purpose of the Defibrillator in Non-Ischemic Cardiomyopathy Treatment Evaluation (DEFINITE) Trial was to determine if the combination of ICD therapy to optimal medical therapy reduces all-cause mortality in non-ischemic cardiomyopathy patients with low ejection fraction and NSVT/PVC's compared to optimal medical therapy only. The enrolled patients in this trial had a diagnosis of nonischemic dilated cardiomyopathy, a LVEF < 36%, and PVC's or unsustained ventricular tachycardia. The control group received standard medical therapy, while the test-ICD group received standard medical therapy and a single-chamber ICD. At 2 years, the mortality rate was greater in the control group (14.1%) than the test-ICD group (7.9%). There were significantly more sudden deaths from arrhythmia in the control group than there were in the test-ICD group (p=0,006). The investigators concluded that the combination of ICD therapy with standard optimal medical therapy reduced the risk of sudden death from arrhythmia in patients with severe non-ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy.

We are glad to announce that the Holter ECG recordings acquired in this trial are now hosted in the THEW and are available for research. Two hundred and thirty nine patients were enrolled in this study and got an Holter ECG recording acquired either at enrollment of later during the trial, the patients were followed for 29 months in average. The enrollment criteria included LVEF<36%, the presence of ambient arrhythmias, a history of symptomatic heart failure, and the presence of non-ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy. Ambient arrhythmias were defined by an episode of non-sustained ventricular tachycardia on Holter (3 to 15 beats at heart rate superior to 120 beats per minutes) (different from the ECGs hosted in this database). The acquisition of the Holter recordings was initiated after the start of the trial. ECGs were acquired at baseline or at the next scheduled follow-up visit for patients who were already enrolled in the study. Importantly, the THEW designed a specific type of research agreement with Northwestern University (Chicago, IL) in order to enable the distribution of the DEFINITE data to the Scientific community. This agreement includes the involvement of a special committee to review the research proposal proposed by THEW members. This committee consists of Prof. Alan Kadish, his collaborators and members of the THEW steering committee. This ad-hoc group will be appointed according to the topics of the research proposal submitted by the THEW members.

To learn more about this new database please click here. here.

Accessing the data from the THEW

To access the data from the warehouse, you can request for a demo. version of the THEW Client Application which let you connect to a database containing Holter ECGs from the repository. To access to all data from the THEW , register and become member of our initiative here. The THEW is a not-for-profit organization.

About Us

The Steering Committee(SC) of the Telemetric and Holter ECG Warehouse (THEW) has been formed during the second quarter 2008, the nine individuals in the SC are from the National Health Institute, the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, the Commissioner Office of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the University of Rochester Medical Center. Read more about our team.


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