To print: Select File and then Print from your browser's menu
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Title: Patients Treated With ICD Shocks for Heart Failure at Higher Risk of Future Death From Heart Failure
URL: http://www.pslgroup.com/dg/22AF8A.htm
Doctor's Guide
September 5, 2008

SEATTLE, Wash -- September 5, 2008 -- While implantable heart defibrillators reduce the risk of death from sudden cardiac arrest in patients with mild to moderate heart failure, patients who receive defibrillator shocks for rhythm disturbances have a higher future risk of death, primarily from heart failure, according to a new study in the September 4 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

These new findings stem from the Sudden Cardiac Death in Heart Failure Trial (SCD-HeFT) which demonstrated a clear survival advantage for patients treated with an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) and medications for heart failure compared with patients treated with medications only.

In the new study, Jeanne E. Poole, MD, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, and colleagues prospectively studied 811 patients enrolled from 1997 to 2001 in SCD-HeFT who received an ICD -- representing one-third of the randomised patients. The remaining patients received either amiodarone or a placebo.

"In our analysis, we aimed to compare outcomes in patients who developed heart rhythm disturbances with those patients who did not," said Dr. Poole. "The results of our study show that these patients who are saved from an otherwise life-threatening heart rhythm are now identified as a high-risk group that has a higher chance of future death from heart failure.""

The researchers examined the heart rhythms that triggered ICD therapy over the course of the 6-year trial. Data retrieved from the patients' ICDs during clinic visits were examined by a panel of experts. These investigators then looked at whether patients were more likely to subsequently die if they were in the group who had received an ICD shock.

"Doctors should be vigilant in monitoring heart failure patients to ensure patients are on appropriate and available therapies," said Dr. Poole. "Providers should also make sure that a new disorder or progression in the patients' disease is not responsible for any increased risk."

SOURCE: University of Washington

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright © 1999 P\S\L Consulting Group Inc. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of P\S\L content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of P\S\L. P\S\L shall not be liable for any errors, omissions or delays in this content or any other content on its sites, newsletters or other publications, nor for any decisions or actions taken in reliance on such content.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This news story was printed from *Doctor's Guide to the Internet*
located at http://www.docguide.com
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Return to News Story Page

This site is maintained by webmaster@pslgroup.com
Please contact us with any comments, problems or bugs.
All contents Copyright (c) 1998 P\S\L Consulting Group Inc.
All rights reserved.