News from Dr. Spotnitz's Laboratory

Dr. Spotnitz's laboratory is conducting research under a five year $3.3 million NIH grant entitled, "Biventricular Pacing After Cardiopulmonary Bypass." This grant supports both the BiPACS (Biventricular Pacing After Cardiac Surgery) and the BiBET (Biventricular Pacing BEfore Transplantation) trials. Currently in its fourth year, the BiPACS trial, under an IDE from the FDA and aided by indispensable collaboration from our cardiothoracic surgeons has demonstrated that cardiac output increases 10-15% with biventricular pacing at three time points in the first 24 hours after surgery for acquired heart disease on cardiopulmonary bypass. BiPACS has been expanded to UCLA, seeking an accelerated answer to the primary question of whether cardiac output improves overall in paced patients and what clinical benefits and cost reductions result. Pacing protocols developed under the BiPACS trial are further being tested in patients with right ventricular failure after cardiopulmonary bypass in an effort to expand the benefits of this technology. These studies include adults and children undergoing cardiac transplantation and adults undergoing pulmonary thromboendartereectomy. Multisite pacing studies are also under way in children undergoing surgery for single ventricle physiology.