Implantable cardioverter-defibrillator therapy for prevention of sudden cardiac death.

Patients with known symptomatic VT or VF are at high risk for sudden cardiac death. Various therapeutic choices can be used to reduce the incidence of arrhythmic sudden cardiac death. These include beta-blockers, class I and III antiarrhythmic agents, VT focal ablations, and ICD therapy. The overall incidence of sudden cardiac death in ICD recipients is less than 2% per year, a rate of survival not achieved with any of the available antiarrhythmic agents. VT surgical therapy can produce comparable survival results, but the minimal operative mortality is higher than that with ICD therapy. In patients with noninducible VT/VF or inducible polymorphic VT, and in those refractory to or intolerant of antiarrhythmic agents and poor left ventricular function, ICD therapy may be the only realistic option.