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Experience with a New Implantable Pacer‐, Cardioverter‐Defibrillator for the Therapy of Recurrent Sustained Ventricular Tachyarrhythmias: A Step Toward a Universal Ventricular Tachyarrhythmia Control Device
Author(s) -
FROMER MARTIN,
SCHLÄPFER JÜRG,
FISCHER ADAM,
KAPPENBERGER LUKAS
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
pacing and clinical electrophysiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.686
H-Index - 101
eISSN - 1540-8159
pISSN - 0147-8389
DOI - 10.1111/j.1540-8159.1991.tb02869.x
Subject(s) - medicine , implantable cardioverter defibrillator , cardiology , ventricular tachycardia
Ten consecutive patients (mean age 57.9 ± 7.6 years) were treated with an investigational tachyarrhythmia control device, the implantable Medtronic Pacer‐, Cardioverter‐, Defibrillator model 7216A or 72170. All patients had coronary artery disease with old myocardial infarctions and presented hemodynamically significant sustained ventricular tachyarrhythmias not suppressed by antiarrhythmic drug therapy and unrelated to acute myocardial infarction. In two patients a nonthoracotomy lead system was implanted. Lowest effective defibrillation energy ranged from 5 to 18 joules (mean 12.2 ± 4 joules) for the epicardial bielectrode systems and were 15 and 18 joules for the nonfhoracotomy lead system implants. The postoperative periods were unremarkable. Follow‐up ranged from 7 to 19 months (mean 13.8 ± 4.5 months). Spontaneous tachyarrhythmia episodes were detected and treated by the device in six patients, five of them received staged therapies. No deaths occurred and no hospital admissions were necessary for device related or ventricular tachyarrhythmia related complications. In conclusion, this integrated device represents a major step toward the development of a universal ventricular arrhythmia control device.