Implantable cardioverter defibrillator therapy in patients with cardiac sarcoidosis.
ICD Shocks in Cardiac Sarcoidosis.


BACKGROUND
An implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) is indicated for some patients with cardiac sarcoidosis (CS) for prevention of sudden death. However, there are little data regarding the event rates of ICD therapies in these patients. We sought to identify the incidence and characteristics of ICD therapies in this patient population.


METHODS
We performed a cohort study of patients with ICDs at 3 institutions. Cases were those patients with CS and an ICD implanted for primary or secondary prevention of sudden death. Additionally, we included a comparison with historical controls of ICD therapy rates reported in clinical trials evaluating the ICD for primary and secondary prevention of sudden death.


RESULTS
Of the 112 CS subjects identified, 36 (32.1%) received appropriate therapies for ventricular tachyarrhythmias (VT) over a mean follow-up period of 29.2 months. VT storm (>3 episodes in 24 hours) occurred in 16 (14.2%) CS subjects. Inappropriate therapies occurred in 13 CS subjects (11.6%). Covariates associated with appropriate ICD therapies included left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) <55% (OR 6.52 [95% CI 2.43-17.5]), right ventricular dysfunction (OR 6.73 [95% CI 2.69-16.8]), and symptomatic heart failure (OR 4.33 [95% CI 1.86-10.1]).


CONCLUSIONS
In our cohort of patients with CS and ICDs, almost one-third receive appropriate therapies. This may be due to a myocardial inflammatory process leading to increased triggered activity and subsequent scarring leading to reentrant tachyarrhythmias. Adjusted predictors of ICD therapies in this population include left or right ventricular dysfunction. (J Cardiovasc Electrophysiol, Vol. 23, pp. 925-929, September 2012).
Section of Cardiac Electrophysiology, University of Colorado, Denver, Colorado, USA.
Joseph L
JL
Schuller
Matthew
M
Zipse
Thomas
T
Crawford
Frank
F
Bogun
John
J
Beshai
Amit R
AR
Patel
Nadera J
NJ
Sweiss
Duy T
DT
Nguyen
Ryan G
RG
Aleong
Paul D
PD
Varosy
Howard D
HD
Weinberger
William H
WH
Sauer
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003645:Death, Sudden / Q000517:prevention & control; D017147:Defibrillators, Implantable; D005260:Female; D006331:Heart Diseases / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012507:Sarcoidosis / Q000628:therapy*