Pooled Analysis of Complications with Transvenous ICD Compared to Subcutaneous ICD in Patients with Catecholaminergic...

Catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia (CPVT) is associated with arrhythmic events which may lead to sudden cardiac death (SCD). A leading therapy for CPVT besides medical treatment with beta-blockers is the use of an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD). For this paper we compared data from a pooled analysis to get further evidence about the complications of transvenous and subcutaneous ICDs.

We gathered data from a search of PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Library and Cinahl. For our analysis, we chose 30 studies with a total number of 784 patients. We compared the data regarding complications caused by different ICD device types.

During a mean follow up of 38.9 months for the patients with ICD implantation (n = 337), data showed a complication rate of 101 (30%). A total of 330 (98%) of them received a transvenous-ICD (T-ICD) and 7 (2%) a subcutaneous-ICD (S-ICD). A total of 97 (29.4%) of the T-ICD patients and 4 (57.1%) of the S-ICD patients had at least one complication. Of the 234 complications that occurred in T-ICD patients 152 (65%) were inappropriate shocks due to supraventricular arrhythmias, T/R-wave oversensing or electrode defect, 26 (11.1%) lead fracture/failure, 1 (0.4%) electrode defect, 46 were (19.7%) events of electrical storms, 1 (0.4%) thromboembolic event, 2 (0.8%) cases of endocarditis and 6 (2.6%) infections of the ICD-pocket. Ten (100%) of the complications for the four patients with the S-ICD were an event of an inappropriate shock due to supraventricular arrhythmias, T/R-wave oversensing or electrode defect.

Subcutaneous ICDs (S-ICD) show a certain advantage over T-ICDs regarding lead-related complications. Nevertheless, they still show problems with inappropriate shocks and other ICD related complications. Therefore, a case-by-case decision is advised, but the continuous improvement of S-ICD might make it an overall advantageous therapy option in the future.