Automatic Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator
Current Status
- Antonis S. Manolis, MD;
- Hassan Rastegar, MD;
- N. A. Mark Estes III, MD
Abstract
The automatic implantable cardioverter defibrillator was conceived by Mirowski as an implantable device for detection and termination of ventricular fibrillation. Since the initial human implant of the defibrillator in 1980, there has been a dramatic expansion of the clinical experience with more than 5000 implants. The technology of the device, which is now capable of sensing and terminating both ventricular tachycardia and fibrillation, has evolved rapidly. Although still not an ideal antiarrhythmic device, it has already had a major impact on arrhythmic mortality with a marked reduction in the sudden death rates in a high-risk patient population.
(JAMA. 1989;262:1362-1368)
Footnotes
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Reprint requests to Cardiac Electrophysiology and Pacemaker Laboratory, Box 197, Tufts—New England Medical Center, 750 Washington St, Boston, MA 02111 (Dr Estes).
