"Shocking" Data on ICD Usage

Gee, I had totally come to terms with mine and now this...

http://tinyurl.com/6cr575

2 Comments

Defribillators

by SMITTY - 2008-09-04 03:09:27

I saw the story you mentioned in our morning paper. My thought was man what a scary impact that is going to have on the people with defibrillators. I am going to post the article below to make it easy for everyone to access. Also, I'm going to express an opinion about the author and this story.

But first I want everyone to understand that I'm not being critical of you for posting this message. I'm sure 99%+ of you that have defibrillators are interested in reading it.

When I went to Google and put in Ms. Nano’s name I found a list of articles she has written. I didn't read them all, but from I did read I reached the conclusion she specializes in writing article about failures of doctors, hospitals and various medications and/or devices. I'm not saying Ms. Nano is blowing anything out of proportion, but it seems she specialize in the more sensational subjects.

If you have a defibrillator I hope Ms. Nano’s article does not upset you. She does state that “Previous research found that the devices cut the risk of death by 23 percent.” My question is how many of those people that got a shock and survived would have died on the spot if they had not gotten that shock. Also, I wonder how many of those people had heart ailments that were sure to be fatal, defribillator or no defribillator.

Frankly I fail to see how publishing such information in the news media is beneficial when the people gettin a defibrillator have no alternative?

By STEPHANIE NANO

NEW YORK (AP) - A lifesaving shock from an implanted heart defibrillator provides relief that a crisis was avoided, but new research suggests it can also be a sign that more trouble is ahead.

A study found that heart failure patients were far more likely to die within four years after their defibrillator zapped the heart into beating normally than those who got no shock.

Experts said patients should promptly tell their doctors if their defibrillator triggers. And doctors should check to see if their patients' condition has worsened and whether tests or medication changes are needed.
"We need to think about everything else we possibly could do to make them as healthy as they can be," said the study's lead author, Dr. Jeanne Poole of the University of Washington.

The findings are in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine, along with another study that concluded that having an implanted defibrillator doesn't appear to diminish one's quality of life.

About 234,800 North Americans have defibrillators, which cost between $25,000 and $35,000. The devices, about the size of a stopwatch, are designed to correct dangerously high or erratic heartbeats in the lower, pumping chambers of the heart.

Previous research found that the devices cut the risk of death by 23 percent. The new reports come from that same study of 2,500 heart failure patients - their weakened hearts didn't pump efficiently - who hadn't yet had a life-threatening irregular heartbeat.

The new government-funded reports show that a defibrillator prolongs "survival in patients with heart failure, with relatively little compromise in the quality of life," wrote Drs. Jeff Healey and Stuart Connolly of McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, in a journal editorial. But they added: "It is somewhat disturbing to realize that actually receiving a shock is such an important predictor of death."

In the study, about a third of the 811 patients with defibrillators were shocked during nearly four years of follow-up. Data recorded by the devices shows whether the shock corrected a life-threatening irregularity or was inappropriately fired by another problem, such as an abnormal rhythm in the heart's upper chambers.

The researchers found that those who needed a shock were more than five times more likely to die over the next four years than those who didn't require one. Even people who didn't seem to need a shock but got one had double the risk of dying.

Dr. N.A. Mark Estes, president of the Heart Rhythm Society, noted that the defibrillators used in the study are a generation-old, and that newer devices can often correct a high heartbeat through painless pacing techniques, before a shock would be needed.
"The frequency of shocks would be considerably less with contemporary devices," said Estes, of Tufts Medical Center in Boston. He had no role in the studies but has been involved in others.

For the quality of life study, participants were questioned four times over 2 1/2 years about their activities and well-being to see how the defibrillator was affecting their lives. There was no difference between the groups treated with defibrillators, medication or dummy pills, the researchers said.

"We found no evidence that the patients who got the defibrillator were feeling any worse for having received that therapy," said Dr. Daniel Mark, lead author of the study from Duke University Medical Center.

A patient at Duke, John McKinnon, said he was initially reluctant to get a defibrillator about two years but has had no concerns since. Months ago, the 65-year-old pastor got a shock, which he described as a strong kick. Since then he's had a procedure to treat an abnormal heartbeat. "I'm getting my energy back, doing some walking, getting some exercise," said McKinnon.

Medtronic Inc. provided the defibrillators used in the research and Wyeth provided the medicine. Many of the researchers and the editorial writers have received lecture fees or grants from makers of defibrillators.

Only a study ...

by admin - 2008-09-04 09:09:27

I read the article and encourage others to do the same. Like Smitty said, it does not recognize the fact that the ICD's shock was life saving. I also noticed that the study results were based on only 270 patients (i.e. 1/3 of 811). With such a small sample size, I question the results. The study also did not say the cause of death for the patients. Was it old age, cancer or an arrhythmia?

I hope ICDers see the article for what it is ... only a study and enjoy life.

Blake

You know you're wired when...

You have a new body part.

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