Background: The wearable cardioverter defibrillator (WCD) has emerged as a valuable tool to protect patients with increased risk of sudden cardiac death (SCD). We sought to characterize WCD patients and to analyze predictors of ventricular arrhythmia (VA) occurrence and WCD shock delivery.
Methods and results: One hundred fourteen patients with WCD use were included in the study. Indications were mainly ischemic cardiomyopathy (ICM; 31.6%), non-ICM (45.6%) and explantation of implantable cardioverter defibrillator due to device infection (11.4%). We observed sustained VA in 9.6% of the study population and 6.1% received an appropriate shock. VA occurred in 16.7% of ICM, 3.8% of non-ICM and 15.4% of patients with device infection.
Conclusions: Our data demonstrate a very high rate of sustained VA in patients at risk for SCD during WCD use. ICM patients, including those with recent MI, bore the highest risk.
Keywords: Ischemic cardiomyopathy; Non-ischemic cardiomyopathy; Sudden cardiac death; Wearable cardioverter defibrillator.
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