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The Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator: Technical and Clinical Considerations

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Electrical Diseases of the Heart

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Abstract

The implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) has become the most common device implanted for the treatment of arrhythmia disorders. The enormous technological development of these devices is perhaps the most dramatic progression observed in medicine over the last 30 years. The initial experiments of Mirowski published in 1978 required an external unit developed into epicardial patches and a large abdominal human implantable device released in 1985 and this yielded to transvenous leads in the early 1990s and smaller pectoral and dual chamber devices in the late 1990s and ultimately to combine cardiac resynchronization devices with defibrillation in the first few years of the new millennium.

The aim of this chapter is to review the current ICD indications based on the results of the most recent published trials, comment about the technical aspects involved in the design, implant and testing of the devices and an overview of the follow up recommendations.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Heart and Vascular Institute, Cleveland Clinic, 9500 Euclid Avenue, Desk J2-2, Cleveland, OH, 44195, USA

    Bruce L. Wilkoff MD

  2. Medicine Department, Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA

    Bruce L. Wilkoff MD

  3. Cardiology Department, Cardiac Electrophysiology, Southern Arizona VA Health Care Center, 3601 South 6th Avenue, Tucson, AZ, 85723, USA

    Sergio G. Thal MD

  4. Medicine Department, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

    Sergio G. Thal MD

Authors
  1. Bruce L. Wilkoff MD
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Correspondence to Bruce L. Wilkoff MD .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Department of Internal Medicine, UMDNJ-RWJ Medical School, Robert Wood Johnson Pl. 1, New Brunswick, 08903-0019, New Jersey, USA

    Ihor Gussak

  2. , Gordon K. Moe Scholar, Masonic Medical Research Laboratory, Bleecker Street, Utica, 13501-1787, New York, USA

    Charles Antzelevitch

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Wilkoff, B.L., Thal, S.G. (2013). The Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator: Technical and Clinical Considerations. In: Gussak, I., Antzelevitch, C. (eds) Electrical Diseases of the Heart. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-4978-1_39

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-4978-1_39

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