Ventricular tachycardia and sudden death after primary PCI-reperfusion therapy: impact on primary prevention of sudden cardiac death.

Background: Current approaches to coronary artery disease (CAD) and acute myocardial infarction (MI) may not be well represented in most primary prevention trials of sudden cardiac death (SCD).

Methods: The contemporary and ongoing registry of the Rostock infarction network (Drip & Ship) represents a well-defined cohort of patients subjected to percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for ST-elevation infarction (STEMI) and served as the database for both candidates for an ICD for primary prevention of SCD and for sudden death (SCD) or ventricular tachycardia (VT) during follow-up.

Results: A total of 855 consecutive patients were treated with PCI for STEMI or NSTEMI in the region of Rostock (Germany) between 2001 and 2004.