Defibrillator Study

They're implanted in the chest and shock an out of control heart back into normal rhythm. Implantable defibrillators, which are the size of pacemakers, are receiving a lot of interest because a growing body of research is showing they are prolonging the lives of people with heart disease. Doctors are putting implantable defibrillators even in people who have never had their hearts stop before, and even in those who never even had a dangerous heart rhythm. Now, new evidence shows, implantable defibrillators are worth it, even in those who don't even have blocked heart arteries. Anne Kilkelly is a good example.

"I used to walk with my friend at the mall for morning exercise and I just couldn't keep up with her anymore. I'm really short of breath." recalls Anne. That was this past January. She knew she had a cardiomyopathy, a heart that didn't pump well. Roughly one out of every four patients like Anne who have significant heart failure end up having problems in the electrical conduction system of the heart that could end up causing a cardiac arrest. Normally, the conduction system sends well-coordinated electrical impulses throughout the heart muscle, resulting in a uniform contraction with each heart beat. But if the heart fails, and gets baggy, that system can get stretched, and the signals can get delayed to one part of the heart.

That can cause the heart to pump even more poorly and, what is even more concerning, the stretched electrical system can give rise to dangerous electrical rhythms which cause the heart to stop altogether. Now new research in the New England Journal of Medicine shows implantable cardioverter-defibrillators can save the lives of patients like Anne. These implantable defibrillators detect the beginning of a bad heart rhythm, and shock the heart back into a normal beat. Dr. Joseph Levine is one of the study authors at St. Francis Hospital in Roslyn, New York. He observes, "It seems as if the people who have the most symptomatic heart failure seem to benefit the most based upon our study." Compared to other heart treatments, many heart experts consider these implantable defibrillators the exciting new frontier in cardiac treatment--one that truly prolongs life.

The research found, when combined with a pacemaker, this defibrillator reduces the risk of death from heart failure by 40 percent. Dr. Levine points out, "Some of our other technologies angioplasty and open heart surgery really benefit people in terms of making them feel better. They do make some people live longer but there does seem to be much more benefit with respect to prolongation of life with the implantable defibrillator. So it's a remarkable time." Anne also got a pacemaker that makes both chambers of the heart beat together, and that relieved her symptoms.

One of the studies found this pacing along with the implantable defibrillator is what really prolongs survival in patients with advanced heart failure. It gave her peace of mind, enough to enjoy a trip to Italy one month later. "You feel like you have something there to help you out in a bad situation. I hope it never has to go off but it's there." she says.

For more information on heart failure, click here.