RCT of Implantable Defibrillators in Patients With Non Ischemic Cardiomyopathy, Scar and Severe Systolic Heart Failure

ConditionHeart Failure
Trial statusRecruiting
Trial phaseNot applicable
Trial typeInterventional
Biological sexAll
Age18+
SponsorUniversity Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust

About this trial

BRITISH is a UK multicentre trial of patients who have been diagnosed with heart failure due to Non-Ischemic Cardiomyopathy (NICM, or heart failure that is not caused by blocked heart arteries. Participants will be randomised into two groups. Half the participants will receive an Implantable Cardioverter-Defibrillator (ICD) and the other half will not. The aim of the study will be to compare all-cause mortality (death from any cause) between these two groups at 36 months, and longer-term to 10 years. The study has the potential to change international heart failure treatment guidelines and to improve how patients with this condition are managed.

Eligibility criteria

Qualifiers

A diagnosis of NICM on contrast-enhanced cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging

LV scar on routine CMR (patient without scar can enter the registry)

New York Heart Association (NYHA) Heart Failure (HF) functional class I-III and severely impaired left ventricular function (LVEF ≤ 35% on any imaging modality) after a minimum of 3 months of treatment with optimal medical therapy (OMT) as recommended by National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE)

Able and willing to provide informed consent

Disqualifiers

New York Heart Association (NYHA) HF functional class IV after 3 months of optimal medical therapy (OMT)

Acute decompensated heart failure

Previous implantable device in situ (PPM, Cardiac Resynchronisation Therapy (CRT) or ICD)

Ischemic cardiomyopathy (ICM) is defined as segmental wall motion abnormalities or wall thinning in a particular coronary territory with subendocardial or transmural late gadolinium enhancement (LGE). Patients with an LVEF ≤35% and a small amount of ischemic LGE (i.e. an infarct out of keeping with the amount of LV dysfunction) will not be excluded (so-called dual pathology patients)

Trial design

Treatments tested in this trial

  • Implantable Cardioverter-Defibrillator (ICD) or Cardiac Resynchronisation Therapy Defibrillator (CRTD)

Treatment groups

2,504 Participants
are divided into 3 treatment groups

Sponsors and collaborators

University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust

Lead sponsor

British Heart Foundation

Collaborator

University of Southampton

Collaborator