title: Sensing failure in a tiered therapy implantable cardioverter defibrillator: role of auto adjustable gain.
abstract: Implantable cardioverter defibrillators have an established role in the management of life-threatening tachyarrhythmias. These devices use sophisticated sensing circuitry to detect and promptly treat a vast majority of these arrhythmias. However, they are not foolproof. We report one case where the device failed to sense every other QRS complex during induced ventricular fibrillation due to marked electrical alterans. Thus, undersensing can be a potentially fatal problem despite the use of auto adjustable gain.
authors.affiliation: Wisconsin Electrophysiology Group, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee Heart Institute, Sinai Samaritan Medal Center, USA.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wase
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Natale
authors.forename: A A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Dhala
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Deshpande
authors.forename: J S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Sra
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Blanck
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Maglio
authors.forename: M R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Jazayeri
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Akhtar
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D002304:Cardiac Pacing, Artificial; D017147:Defibrillators, Implantable; D004562:Electrocardiography; D004594:Electrophysiology; D004867:Equipment Design; D004868:Equipment Failure; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010138:Pacemaker, Artificial; D017180:Tachycardia, Ventricular / Q000517:prevention & control; D014693:Ventricular Fibrillation / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000517:prevention & control*