title: [Implantable automatic defibrillator. Evaluation after 8 years of use].
abstract: The thirty nine patients (30 men and 9 women, mean age 49 +/- 14 years) who were implanted with an automatic cardioverter defibrillator (AICD) between October 1982 and April 1990 were reviewed retrospectively. This group included 22 patients with ischaemic cardiomyopathy (55%), 9 primary cardiomyopathies (23%) 5 ventricular tachycardias in patients with normal hearts (13%), 1 case of arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia and two of mitral valve prolapse. The mean ejection fraction for the whole group was 38 +/- 14%. The indication for implantation of the AICD was life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias for which other forms of treatment were either ineffective (29 patients), impossible to assess (9 patients) or poorly tolerated (1 patient). Two patients died during the perioperative period and the follow-up is too short in two other cases. Therefore, 35 patients were studied over an average of 23.7 +/- 16 months. During follow-up, 5 patients died, 3 of progressive cardiac failure and 2 suddenly, one of whom was waiting for a replacement of an exhausted generator. The AICD never functioned in 40% of patients. In addition, it was impossible to determine for the majority of shocks delivered if they had been triggered by a sustained ventricular arrhythmia. Long term tolerance was generally good but two patients developed cardiac constriction induced by the epicardial patch electrodes. The results of this review confirm the efficacy of AICD in preventing sudden death at the expense of a low operative mortality and with good long term tolerance. Quite a large proportion of AICDs never functioned and the interpretation of the delivered shocks remains questionable.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
authors.affiliation: Service de cardiologie, hopital Lariboisière, Paris.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Rapoport
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Leenhardt
authors.forename: J F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Leclercq
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Coumel
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Slama
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001145:Arrhythmias, Cardiac / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy*; D009202:Cardiomyopathies / Q000150:complications / Q000628:therapy*; D002648:Child; D003645:Death, Sudden; D004554:Electric Countershock / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008945:Mitral Valve Prolapse / Q000150:complications / Q000628:therapy*; D012189:Retrospective Studies
vernacular_title: Défibrillateur automatique implantable. Bilan après 8 ans d'utilisation.