A 17 year experience of inappropriate shock therapy in patients with implantable cardioverter-defibrillators: are we getting any better?

I mplantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) are standard treatment for both secondary and primary prevention in patients with malignant ventricular arrhythmias. 2 Inappropriate shock therapy (IST) occurs in a significant proportion of ICD patients, despite newer generation devices and algorithms specifically employed to try and eliminate this. The frequency of IST in patients implanted with cardioverter-defibrillators at this institution over a 17 year period from 1984 to 2001 was assessed. Predictive factors of IST were assessed, as was the susceptibility of certain subgroups to IST. Also, newer dual chamber devices were examined to see if they reduced IST.