Differences between Ventricular Tachyarrhythmias for Patients with Coronary Artery Disease and Dilated Cardiomyopathy.

Aim: Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) and Dilated Cardiomyopathy (DCM) are structurally different heart diseases. Spontaneous ventricular tachyarrhythmias (VT) from implantable cardio-defibrillators (ICD) are studied to explore clinical differences between CAD and DCM. Methods: The analysis is focused on: number of VT episodes, variability of the VT onset (three modes are considered), VT-rate, coupling interval, prematurity index, median heart cycle of the 20 sec. preceding VT onset and circadian distribution of VT-onset. Significant differences are evaluated with p<0.05. Results: 165 VT episodes among 37 patients (79 from 26 CAD and 86 from 11 DCM) are studied. DCM patients have more VT episodes (p<0.02) and greater variability of VT-onset (p<0.01) than CAD. Circadian distribution in CAD has peaks in morning and afternoon, while in DCM it is almost uniform during light hours. Conclusion: DCM patients have more VT, greater VT-onset variability and different circadian distributions.