Niraj Varma1, Mark A Johnson. 1. Department of Electrophysiology, Cardiovascular Medicine, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio 44195, USA. varman@ccf.org
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Cancelled shock therapy (CxTx) may presage shock delivery and shorten battery longevity of implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs). However, it is silent and has received little attention. Remote home monitoring (HM) with continuous surveillance and automatic daily data archiving allows investigation of CxTx. METHODS AND RESULTS: We retrospectively analyzed a database of 4,960 recipients of HM ICD, from 2002 to 2007. Over a mean follow-up of 445 +/- 253 days, CxTx occurred in 1,392 (28%) patients, mostly as single episodes (n = 1,120). However, 142 patients (10% of patients with CxTx, 2.9% of the whole ICD population) had >10 CxTx. CxTx was followed by shock delivery in 432 patients, in 239 (55%) of whom CxTx occurred >10 days prior to shock delivery. In 113 patients (26%), CxTx occurred in the 72-hour period preceding the shock. A single CxTx preceded the shock in 74 of these 113 patients, and only eight patients had >3 CxTx. CONCLUSION: CxTx was highly prevalent in unselected ICD recipients, though the intraindividual density of episodes was low. In 2.9% of the overall population, the number of CxTx was sufficient to shorten the battery longevity. A high number of CxTx usually did not predict the delivery of shocks.
BACKGROUND: Cancelled shock therapy (CxTx) may presage shock delivery and shorten battery longevity of implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs). However, it is silent and has received little attention. Remote home monitoring (HM) with continuous surveillance and automatic daily data archiving allows investigation of CxTx. METHODS AND RESULTS: We retrospectively analyzed a database of 4,960 recipients of HM ICD, from 2002 to 2007. Over a mean follow-up of 445 +/- 253 days, CxTx occurred in 1,392 (28%) patients, mostly as single episodes (n = 1,120). However, 142 patients (10% of patients with CxTx, 2.9% of the whole ICD population) had >10 CxTx. CxTx was followed by shock delivery in 432 patients, in 239 (55%) of whom CxTx occurred >10 days prior to shock delivery. In 113 patients (26%), CxTx occurred in the 72-hour period preceding the shock. A single CxTx preceded the shock in 74 of these 113 patients, and only eight patients had >3 CxTx. CONCLUSION:CxTx was highly prevalent in unselected ICD recipients, though the intraindividual density of episodes was low. In 2.9% of the overall population, the number of CxTx was sufficient to shorten the battery longevity. A high number of CxTx usually did not predict the delivery of shocks.
Authors: Sergio Dubner; Angelo Auricchio; Jonathan S Steinberg; Panos Vardas; Peter Stone; Josep Brugada; Ryszard Piotrowicz; David L Hayes; Paulus Kirchhof; Günter Breithardt; Wojciech Zareba; Claudio Schuger; Mehmet K Aktas; Michal Chudzik; Suneet Mittal; Niraj Varma Journal: Ann Noninvasive Electrocardiol Date: 2012-01 Impact factor: 1.468