An epicardial subxiphoid implantable defibrillator lead: superior effectiveness after failure of standard implants

A single epicardial implantable lead using the subxiphoid approach is described in this article. It consists of a single halo-shaped coil that is implanted under the inferior surface of the heart, including the right and left inferior ventricular surfaces. It has been implanted in four patients who could not be defibrillated with a transvenous system, even with the adjunct use of subcutaneous leads or left chest wall patch. Three of the patients had progressive heart failure due to ischemic myocardiopathy; the fourth patient had a dilated idiopathic myocardiopathy. The approach is simple and appears to be effective due to its ability to encompass the left and right ventricles. This vector seems to significantly lower the threshold for defibrillation, and may offer substantial benefit in the setting of high defibrillation thresholds with conventional leads, or when conventional systems are inadequate to achieve consistent defibrillation.