Association between implantable cardioverter-defibrillator and survival in patients awaiting heart transplantation: A meta-analysis and systematic review.

Background: Patients with end-stage heart failure are at high risk for sudden cardiac death. However, implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) is not routinely implanted given the high competing risk of pump failure. A unique population worth separate consideration are patients with end-stage heart failure awaiting heart transplantation, as prolonged survival improves the chances of receiving transplant.

Objective: To compare clinical outcomes of heart failure patients with and without an ICD awaiting heart transplant.

Methods: We performed an extensive literature search and systematic review of studies that compared end-stage heart failure patients with and without an ICD awaiting heart transplantation. We separately assessed the rates of total mortality, sudden cardiac death, nonsudden cardiac death, and heart transplantation. Risk ratio (RR) and 95% confidence intervals were measured using the Mantel-Haenszel method. The random effects model was used owing to heterogeneity across study cohorts.

Results: Ten studies with a total of 36,112 patients were included. A total of 62.5% of patients had an ICD implanted. Patients with an ICD had decreased total mortality (RR 0.60, 95% CI 0.51-0.71,  < .00001) and sudden cardiac death (RR 0.27, 95% CI 0.11-0.66,  = .004) and increased rates of heart transplantation (RR 1.09, 95% CI 1.05-1.14, < .0001). There was no difference in prevalence of nonsudden cardiac death (RR 0.68, 95% CI 0.44-1.04, = .07).

Conclusion: ICD implantation is associated with improved outcomes in patients awaiting heart transplant, characterized by decreased total mortality and sudden cardiac death as well as higher rates of heart transplantation.