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(Circulation. 2003;108:E9081-E9082.)
© 2003 American Heart Association, Inc.

Cardiovascular News

Ruth SoRelle, MPH

Circulation Newswriter

An extract of the first 250 words of the full text is provided, because this article has no abstract.

Preventing Sudden Death in a Special Population

Implanting a cardioverter-defibrillator in patients who suffer from arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy/dysplasia reduced the incidence of sudden death, said Italian researchers in a report in this week’s issue of the journal Circulation ( Circulation. 2003;108:3084–3091[Abstract/Free Full Text]).

Patients with this disorder faced an increased risk of sudden death, said the researchers, led by Domenico Corrado, MD, PhD, of the Universita di Padova in Padov, Italy. In this multinational, multicenter trial, the researchers implanted defibrillators in 93 men and 39 middle-aged women with the disease. Thirteen of the patients had suffered a cardiac arrest, 82 had had sustained ventricular tachycardia, and 21 had had syncope. In the 39 months (on average) that patients were monitored, 64 patients experienced a needed firing of the defibrillator, termed an appropriate intervention. Twenty-one had inappropriate interventions, and 19 suffered complications related to the implantable cardioverter-defibrillator.

Four patients died during the follow-up period, said the researchers, and 32 had ventricular fibrillation or flutter that would have resulted in sudden death without the intervention of the device. At 36 months, the rate of survival was 96% in this population. Survival rate without ventricular fibrillation/flutter was 72%.

The researchers concluded that in this particular population, implantable cardioverter-defibrillators "provided life-saving protection by effectively terminating life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias."

Pulmonary Stenosis After Radiofrequency Ablation
Better imaging techniques that insure ostial isolation and guide the titration of the power used during radiofrequency ablation for atrial fibrillation lessen the incidence of severe pulmonary stenosis, said an international group of researchers in a report in this week’s issue of . . . [Full Text of this Article]