Does Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillators (ICD) improve arrhythmia termination in young patients with catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia?
ICDs in young CPVT patients are effective for terminating ventricular fibrillation but not polymorphic or bidirectional VT, and are associated with high rates of complications and inappropriate shocks.
ICD efficacy in catecholaminergic polymorphic VT depends on arrhythmia mechanism. Episodes of ventricular fibrillation were uniformly successfully treated, whereas polymorphic and bidirectional VT did not demonstrate successful primary termination. Inappropriate shocks, electrical storm, and ICD complications were common.
Miyake et al. (2013) studied this question.