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No benefit from defibrillation threshold testing in the SCD-HeFT (Sudden Cardiac Death in Heart Failure Trial).
Blatt, Joseph A; Poole, Jeanne E; Johnson, George W; Callans, David J; Raitt, Merritt H; Reddy, Ramakota K; Marchlinski, Francis E; Yee, Raymond; Guarnieri, Thomas; Talajic, Mario; Wilber, David J; Anderson, Jill; Chung, Kiyon; Wong, Wai Shun; Mark, Daniel B; Lee, Kerry L; Bardy, Gust H.
Affiliation
  • Blatt JA; Department of Cardiology, University of Washington, Box 356422, 1959 NE Pacific Street, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA. jablatt@u.washington.edu
J Am Coll Cardiol ; 52(7): 551-6, 2008 Aug 12.
Article in En | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-18687249
OBJECTIVES: This study investigated whether defibrillation threshold (DFT) testing during implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) implantation predicts clinical outcomes. BACKGROUND: Defibrillation testing is often performed during insertion of ICDs to confirm shock efficacy. There are no prospective data to suggest that this procedure improves outcomes when modern ICDs are implanted for primary prevention of sudden death. METHODS: The analysis included the 811 patients who were randomized to the ICD arm of the SCD-HeFT (Sudden Cardiac Death in Heart Failure Trial) and had the device implanted. The DFT testing protocol in SCD-HeFT was designed to limit shock testing in a primary prevention heart failure population. RESULTS: Baseline DFT data were available for 717 patients (88.4%). All 717 patients had a DFT of < or =30 J, the maximum output of the device in this study. The DFT was < or =20 J in 97.8% of patients. There was no survival difference between patients with a lower DFT (< or =10 J, n = 547) and a higher DFT (>10 J, n = 170) (p = 0.41). First shock efficacy was 83.0% for the first clinical ventricular tachyarrhythmia event; there were no differences in shock efficacies when the cohort was subdivided by baseline DFT. CONCLUSIONS: Low baseline DFTs were obtained in patients with stable, optimally treated heart failure during ICD implantation for primary prevention of sudden death. First shock efficacy for ventricular tachyarrhythmias was high regardless of baseline DFT testing results. Baseline DFT testing did not predict long-term mortality or shock efficacy in this study.
Subject(s)

Full text: 1 Database: MEDLINE Main subject: Ventricular Fibrillation / Death, Sudden, Cardiac / Defibrillators, Implantable / Electrophysiologic Techniques, Cardiac / Heart Failure Type of study: Clinical_trials / Etiology_studies / Guideline / Prognostic_studies Language: En Journal: J Am Coll Cardiol Year: 2008 Type: Article Affiliation country: United States

Full text: 1 Database: MEDLINE Main subject: Ventricular Fibrillation / Death, Sudden, Cardiac / Defibrillators, Implantable / Electrophysiologic Techniques, Cardiac / Heart Failure Type of study: Clinical_trials / Etiology_studies / Guideline / Prognostic_studies Language: En Journal: J Am Coll Cardiol Year: 2008 Type: Article Affiliation country: United States