CRT-D implants for treating sudden cardiac death

Sep 3 2009

Electrophysiologists Robert Stevenson, MD, and Jeffrey L. Williams, MD, MS, FACC, are safely implanting cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillators in the Good Samaritan Hospital (GSH) Cardiology (Heart Failure) Program. These advanced defibrillators are used to treat sudden cardiac death, which is abrupt heart failure, usually due to an electrical rhythm dysfunction in the lower chambers of the heart that causes the heart to pump blood ineffectively. In addition, these devices have an additional implanted pacing lead that helps to resynchronize an abnormally pumping heart in an attempt to lessen heart failure symptoms for cardiology patients.

Results of the MADIT-CRT Trial were recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine. This trial was designed to determine whether cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillators (implanted by electrophysiologists or cardiologists) would reduce the risk of death or heart failure events in patients with mild cardiac symptoms, a reduced ejection fraction, and a wide QRS complex. These cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillators were associated with a 34 percent relative reduction in the risk of all-cause death or first heart failure event.

“We are proud to provide Central Pennsylvania the most state-of-the-art cardiology and heart failure services with a patient- and family-centered caregiving approach,” says electrophysiologist Dr. Williams. The Invasive Electrophysiology Laboratory at Good Samaritan Hospital (www.gshleb.org) offers the most advanced 3D intracardiac mapping system and intracardiac echocardiography available and is the only center in Central PA to offer jet ventilation for advanced cardiology heart rhythm ablation to ensure the safest possible procedures. A new state-of-the-art procedure room permits diagnosis and management of cardiac arrhythmias, including patients with syncope, supraventricular tachycardia (e.g., AV nodal reentry, Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome), atrial fibrillation/flutter, ventricular tachycardia, and survivors of cardiac arrest or heart failure. Drs. Stevenson and Williams have safely treated hundreds of heart failure patients with implantable pacemakers, defibrillators, and loop recorders in the GSH Invasive Electrophysiology Laboratory.