Polish single-centre follow-up of subcutaneous implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (S-ICD) systems implanted for the prevention of sudden cardiac death

Abstract

S-ICD, being an effective and safe method used to treat patients at risk of SCD, may be safely and successfully introduced into clinical practice in centres new to that field. The number of complications during the initial experience and introduction of that method may be kept low if the operating team is experienced enough in cardiac electrotherapy.

Multicentre early experience with totally subcutaneous cardioverter-defibrillators in Poland

“…On average, each department performed 3.8 procedures, which could be compared to median five implants per centre in the initial 2-year experience in the United Kingdom [23]; however, the figure is far lower than in the report published in the Netherlands, where almost 120 implants were performed in four centres [21]. Two Polish centres published longer experience with SICD, reporting three and four S-ICD procedures in the first year, then seven and eight further implants, respectively, in the following 2 years [32][33][34]. These data show that S-ICD technology is still applied with important limitation in Poland without reaching the recommended level of 15 procedures [21] even in the leading centres.…”

Air entrapment as a potential cause of early subcutaneous implantable cardioverter defibrillator malfunction: a systematic review of the literature

“…Fourteen studies, 9 , 11 , 5–7 , 20 , 21 , 26 , 1–5 , 39 with at least a short-term follow-up (≥3 months), reported the incidence of this phenomenon in different S-ICD cohorts, ranging from 0.4% in the Austrian registry 15 to 8.3% in a small Polish cohort. 20 Aggregating data from these 14 studies, 31 of 2433 (1.2%) S-ICD recipients experienced device malfunction possibly due to AE during the reported follow-up.…”

Factors determining the choice between subcutaneous or transvenous implantable cardioverter-defibrillators in Poland in comparison with other European countries: a sub-study of the European Heart Rhythm Association prospective survey

“…However, in Poland the number of implanted S-ICDs was significantly lower than the number of ICD-VRs, making up only one-sixth of all ICDs. Previously published data show that S-ICD technology penetrates clinical practice in Poland [20][21][22], but our analysis suggests that this process is slow; similar unfavourable trends were previously observed with the spreading adoption of conventional ICDs [23]. Looking at published data on feasibility and safety, as well as system performance and inappropriate shock rates, which were comparable with those reported for conventional ICDs, it seems justified to suppose that, in the absence of the need for pacing or CRT, S-ICD could gradually replace a considerable percentage of single-and dual-chamber TV-ICDs.…”