Runaway implantable defibrillator--a rare complication of radiation therapy

A case of a patient with runaway implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) due to radiation therapy of a lung cancer is reported. This manifested as poorly tolerated wide complex tachycardia due to inappropriate rapid ventricular pacing, The event terminated with polymorphic VT, which inhibited pacing and ceased spontaneously before ICD discharge. The likely cause was corruption of device random access memory by ionizing radiation.