The implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) is gaining increasing significance in therapy of life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias. Mirowski started to develop experimental automatic implantable defibrillators in the seventies. In 1980, the first human implant of an automatic implantable defibrillator was done by the team of Mirowski in Baltimore, USA. The purpose of this report is to examine 15 implantation at our Institution. Adequate defibrillation thresholds with were obrtained mean 8.0 Joules, slew rate 1.25 V/s and impedance of 620 Ohms. All implants were performed with non-thoracotomy lead, two abdominal implantations and three left pectoral implantations. Implantation time was 164 minutes. During a mean follow-up of 18.79 months, nine patients received therapy. An inappropriate shock was delivered in one case because there was a sensing problem. No mortality, morbidity, or surgical complications were observed. These findings suggest the ICDs with endocardial leads are a feasible and effective therapy for prevention of sudden cardiac death.
Defibrillators; Arrhythmia; Follow-up studies
