Heart rhythm : the official journal of the Heart Rhythm Society
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Clinical Trial
Outcomes and costs of implantable cardioverter-defibrillators for primary prevention of sudden cardiac death among the elderly.
The clinical outcomes and costs of implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) used for primary prevention of sudden cardiac death in nonexperimental settings are uncertain. ⋯ ICD implantation was associated with reduced mortality in a nonexperimental, elderly, primary-prevention patient population hospitalized for CHF. The additional health-care costs of ICD implantation were substantial but comparable to published cost-effectiveness models that have projected ICDs to be cost-effective.
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Brugada syndrome (BrS) is characterized by repolarization abnormality with ST-segment elevation in the right ventricular outflow tract (RVOT). ⋯ The instability and heterogeneity of repolarization within the epicardium of the RVOT seem to be associated with arrhythmogenesis in both patients and in the in vitro tissue models of BrS.