Boston starts MADIT-RIT pacemaker trial

Boston Scientific has initiated a clinical trial to determine the best use of implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) or cardiac resynchronisation therapy defibrillators (CRT-Ds). Called MADIT-RIT, the trial follows three previous landmark trials: MADIT, MADIT II and MADIT-CRT, which also assessed the devices. MADIT-RIT will enrol 1,500 patients and aims to establish the best programming strategy for minimising the occurrence of unnecessary shocks in patients with no history of cardiac arrest. Last month, the MADIT-CRT trial strongly backed CRT-D devices over ICDs in the treatment of mild heart failure patients (www.clinica.co.uk, September 2 2009).