[A 65-year-old man with wearable cardioverter/defibrillator early after acute myocardial infarction]

A 65-year-old man with severe coronary artery disease and coronary artery bypass graft presented with an acute posterior ST-elevation myocardial infarction. Immediate percutaneous coronary intervention resulted in successful revascularisation of the culprit lesion (RCx) with several remaining coronary stenoses. Despite the reduced left ventricular ejection fraction, no primary prevention indication for an implantable cardioverter/defibrillator early after myocardial infarction existed. Due to the complex coronary anatomy with several remaining stenotic vessels we regarded the patient to be at a particularly high risk for lethal ventricular arrhythmias and provided him with a wearable cardioverter defibrillator (WCD). Twenty-six days later, he experienced spontaneous ventricular tachycardia and fibrillation which was successfully treated with high voltage therapy by the WCD. Subsequently, we decided to implant him an ICD following secondary prevention indication. Besides established indications for primary prevention ICD therapy, some patients early after myocardial infarction may be at a particularly high risk for sudden cardiac death. Temporary protection with a WCD in carefully selected patients can offer a safe opportunity for later reevaluation of permanent ICD implantation depending on the course of left ventricular ejection fraction and the occurrence of arrhythmia.