A Wearable Cardioverter Defibrillator (WCD) is "safe and useful" in patients with a high risk for sudden cardiac death and potentially eligible for an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD), according to results from the WEARIT-II Registry study presented Aug. 30 as part of ESC Congress 2014.

Additional Resources ESC Congress 2014 Meeting Coverage Presentation Slides

The study looked at 2,000 patients who were enrolled in the WEARIT Registry and prescribed a WCD between August 2011 and February 2014. Overall, 41 patients experienced a total of 120 sustained ventricular tachyarrhythmia events, corresponding to a rate of 22 sustained episodes per 100 patient-years At the end of WCD use, ICDs were implanted in 794 of the 2000 patients. The most frequent reason not to implant an ICD following WCD wear was improvement in left ventricular ejection fraction (40 percent). Investigators noted the rates of inappropriate WCD therapy were very low (0.5 percent or 2 events per 100 patient-years).

"In a real world setting a management strategy that incorporates the WCD can be safely used to bridge a decision for appropriate ICD therapy in patients with acquired, inherited, and congenital heart disease," said Valentina Kutyifa, MD, PhD, in presenting the findings. In particular she noted that WCDs can allow for safe termination of life-threatening arrhythmic events; help minimize the rate of inappropriate therapies; and serve as a risk assessment tool to identify patients at higher risk for sudden cardiac death who need subsequent ICD implantation.

Keywords: Registries, Tachycardia, Ventricular, Stroke Volume, Risk Assessment, Death, Sudden, Cardiac, Defibrillators, Implantable

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