Why the study?
Does an Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (ICD) prevent sudden cardiac death in patients with NYHA class II or III heart failure?
Does an Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (ICD) prevent sudden cardiac death in patients with NYHA class II or III heart failure?
While guidelines recommend ICDs for primary prevention in both NYHA class II and III heart failure, trial evidence primarily supports their use in class II, highlighting a need for further research in class III patients.
Sudden cardiac death (SCD) is one of the most debilitating and life-threatening complications of heart failure (HF) which has challenged medical care for long. Current guidelines suggest the use of Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (ICD) in primary prevention of SCD in both New York Heart Association (NYHA) class II and class III heart failure. This paper critically evaluated the evidence underlying the guideline recommendation. In contrast to recent guidelines, the majority of the intervention trials conducted on the topic till date found a promising role of ICD only in the prevention of SCD in NYHA class II HF. One of the trials which found a significant role of ICD in type III heart failure was underpowered. Thus, further trials are needed to validate the use of ICD in the prevention of SCD in type III HF.
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Hasan et al. (2016) studied this question.
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