ICDs Extend the Lives of Heart Attack Survivors by Over a Year

A landmark follow-up study has found that heart attack survivors who receive implanted cardioverter defribillators (ICDs) live longer, the longer they have them.

Researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC; New York, NY, USA) reported the eight-year follow-up results of the multicenter automatic defibrillator implantation trial II (MADIT II) study, which tested the effectiveness of ICDs implanted in 1,232 patients in the year 2000. While the original study, published in 2002, found that ICDs reduced risk of sudden cardiac death by 31% in heart attack survivors, and extended the average patient's life by about two months (over a follow-up period that averaged about 2 years), the current study watched the same patients for eight years, and found that they had a 37% lower chance of death from any cause than those without one, which translated into 1.2 life-years saved. Multivariate analysis showed that ICD therapy was associated with additional life-saving benefits during the extended follow-up, proving the overall survival benefit from an ICD was sustained over an eight-year period. The study also found that long-term device efficacy was enhanced among patients who received a limited amount of right ventricular pacing from the ICD, and among those who did not develop heart failure progression during the study. The results of the study were presented at the annual scientific sessions of the Heart Rhythm Society, held during May 2009 in Boston (MA, USA).


"The results of the extended follow-up of the MADIT-II trial provide hope for long-term survival among patients suffering from life-threatening heart conditions that can often times lead to sudden cardiac death, a leading killer in this country and abroad,” said lead author Ilan Goldenberg, MD, of the Heart Research Follow-up Program at URMC. "This study proves that ICD therapy, sustained for over eight years, does in fact improve survival rates and ultimately save lives.”

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