Shoulder Function After Cardioverter-Defibrillator Implantation: 5-Year Follow-up.

Background: Implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) represents the main tool for prevention of sudden cardiac death. Different kinds of postimplant complications have been described; however, little is known about shoulder functional impairment and its impact on quality of life.

Methods: Patients with standard indications for elective prepectoral subcutaneous ICD insertion were enrolled during a 1-year period.

Electrocardiographic Eligibility for Subcutaneous Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator: Evaluation during Bicycle Exercise.

Background: The subcutaneous implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (S-ICD) is used in patients at risk of sudden death. Our aim was to assess clinical predictors of electrocardiographic ineligibility for S-ICD, and the impact of exercise on S-ICD eligibility in an unselected series of patients requiring ICD therapy.

Methods: 102 patients at risk of sudden death were evaluated at rest and during exercise.

Predictors of nonsimultaneous interventricular delay at cardiac resynchronization therapy optimization.

Aim: Cardiac resynchronization is a well tolerated and effective therapy for heart failure, but 30% of patients still do not respond to biventricular pacing. Optimization of device settings, in particular interventricular delay value, represents a plausible target for improving these results, but available literature is discordant. We aimed our study at the identification of the best suitable candidates to interventricular delay optimization.

Implantation of cardioverter-defibrillator: effects on shoulder function.

Background: Subcutaneous almost substituted subpectoral approach of implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) implantation as a less invasive surgical technique. However, the impact of this change in placement site on procedure-related shoulder impairment is poorly understood.

Methods: Candidates for ICD implantation were prospectively evaluated at baseline, 2-weeks and 3-months after the procedure.

How to truly value implantable cardioverter-defibrillators technology: up-front cost or daily cost?

Background: We calculated the daily cost of implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) based on their actual longevity to prove whether the up-front cost is a reliable parameter for the ICD purchasing-process. METHODS. Longevity of single chamber (SC), double chamber (DC), and biventricular (BiV) ICDs from Medtronic (MDT), Guidant (GDT), and St.

Management of phrenic stimulation in CRT patients over the long term: still an unmet need ?

Background:  Phrenic stimulation (PS) may cause intolerable symptoms and prevent CRT delivery in 2-5% of patients. We sought to ensure effective cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) delivery by management of PS at the left ventricular (LV) target site.

Methods And Results:  Two hundred and eleven consecutive patients received a CRT device despite PS occurrence at the LV target site at implantation, when a PS-LV difference >2V was achieved by LV stimulation programming (cathode, pacing vector).

Long-term RV threshold behavior by automated measurements: safety is the standpoint of pacemaker longevity!

Background: We studied long-term right ventricular (RV) pacing threshold (RVPT) behavior in patients consecutively implanted with pacemakers capable of automatic output reprogramming tracked by automatic RV threshold measurement (automatic verification of capture [AVC]).

Methods: All the patients had state-of-the art steroid-eluting bipolar pacing leads and were RV-paced by an AVC algorithm from the three American manufacturers. Follow-up occurred twice in the first year after implantation, then yearly until approaching elective replacement indicator.