RESULTS A total of 176 consecutive patients were included. During a mean follow-up period of 83.8 57.3 months, spontaneous sustained VAs occurred in 30 patients (17%). Eight patients (4.5%) died. Appropriate ICD shocks occurred in 28 patients (15.9%), and 33 patients (18.7%) had inappropriate shocks. Electrical storm occurred in 4 subjects (2.3%). Twenty-eight patients (15.9%) experienced devic...

Implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) have been shown to provide a survival benefit in patients at high risk of sudden cardiac death. A major problem associated with ICD therapy is the occurrence of inappropriate shocks which impair patients' quality of life and may also be arrhythmogenic. Despite recent technological advances, the incidence of inappropriate shocks remains high, thus p...

BACKGROUND Sympathetic activation in heart failure patients favors the development of ventricular arrhythmias, thus leading to an increased risk of sudden cardiac death. β1 - and β2 -adrenergic receptor polymorphisms have been linked to the risk of sudden death. Implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICD) are implanted in a large percentage of heart failure patients, and beyond preventing sud...

OBJECTIVES We report the occurrence of cardiac events during long-term follow-up in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) after cardioverter-defibrillator implantation. BACKGROUND The identification of patients at high risk for sudden death and the prevention of recurrence of sudden death in HCM represents a difficult problem. METHODS We retrospectively analyzed the occurrence of ...

1. Introduction The benefits to developing economies of their comparatively recent integration to international capital markets are clearly substantial: access to international savings allowing the rate of investment (and thus industrial progress and income growth) to be raised; the ability to dampen exogenous shocks by borrowing abroad; and efficiency gains from the transfers of competitive te...

BACKGROUND Patients receive implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) for varying indications. Whether these indications influence the time to first ICD shock is suspected but not confirmed. The modulating effect of beta-blockers on shock-free survival is not fully elucidated. METHOD A retrospective analysis of 230 consecutive patients (age 63 +/- 14 years, 79% men, 75% ischemic, 70% beta-...

Using a quarterly panel of 98 advanced as well emerging and developing countries from 1990 to 2017, this paper shows that domestic variables are significantly related the probability incurring sharp reversals in capital inflows controlling for global push factors. In particular, negative growth shocks combined with high levels leverage private sector significant determinant sudden stops. This i...

BACKGROUND Transposition of the great arteries with intra-atrial baffle repair is among the congenital heart defects at highest risk of sudden death. Little is known about mechanisms of sudden death and the role of implantable cardioverter defibrillators. METHODS AND RESULTS We conducted a multicenter cohort study in patients with transposition of the great arteries to determine actuarial rat...