Baseline Patient Characteristics
A total of 48 patients with NICM who received an upgrade to CRT on the basis of the guidelines was reviewed. Of those, seventeen (35%) patients were diagnosed with CS. In the CS patients, 7 were administered corticosteroids before the CRT upgrade (group 1), and 10 were not (group 2). Thirty-one patients were diagnosed with non-CS (group 3).Table 1 presents the patient characteristics during the upgrade to CRT. Although no significant differences were observed in the age, LVEF, LVEDV, LVESV, serum creatinine, plasma BNP, and previous frequency of right ventricular pacing, more female patients were included in group 1 than in groups 2 and 3. The LA diameter was largest in group 3.