Key result
Excessive alcohol consumption and exercise in a 49-year-old man with an ICD resulted in eight unsuccessful shocks for ventricular tachycardia despite previously confirmed low defibrillation thresholds.
Why the study?
Does excessive alcohol consumption and exercise increase defibrillation thresholds and lead to ineffective ICD therapy in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy?
Case Report (n=1)
Does excessive alcohol consumption and exercise increase defibrillation thresholds and lead to ineffective ICD therapy in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy?
Excessive alcohol consumption combined with exercise may elevate defibrillation thresholds, leading to ineffective ICD therapy and life-threatening situations in patients with ICDs.
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
May precipitate failed ICD shocks after alcohol and exercise; hypothesis-generating for elevated defibrillation thresholds.
A 49-year-old man with dilated cardiomyopathy and an ICD received eight unsuccessful shocks for a single episode of ventricular tachycardia after excessive alcohol intake and exercise. The patient had low defibrillation thresholds just 8 days prior to his event during a routine 6-week postimplant electrophysiological study. Defibrillation threshold testing after his incident confirmed the low energy requirement for ventricular tachycardia termination. A previous animal study reported that intravenous ethanol elevates the defibrillation energy in a dose dependent manner. However, a recent study in humans showed that modest alcohol intake had no effect on defibrillator thresholds. This case report supports the animal data and suggests that excessive alcohol consumption can cause a life-threatening situation in ICD patients.
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Papaioannou et al. (2002) conducted a case report in Dilated cardiomyopathy with an ICD (n=1). Excessive alcohol intake and exercise was evaluated on Defibrillation threshold / successful ICD shock. Excessive alcohol consumption and exercise in a 49-year-old man with an ICD resulted in eight unsuccessful shocks for ventricular tachycardia despite previously confirmed low defibrillation thresholds.
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