Arq. Bras. Cardiol. 2022; 119(6): 929-930
Defibrillation Threshold in Patients with Chronic Chagas’ Heart Disease: Are There Benefits or not Worth the Risk?
This Short Editorial is referred by the Research article "Defibrillation Threshold Testing and Long-term Follow-up in Chagas Disease".
The implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) is the best therapeutic option to prevent sudden cardiac death for several high-risk groups of patients. Basically, the ICD can recognize and stop ventricular tachycardia (VT) and ventricular fibrillation (VF) by triggering anti-tachycardia pacing (ATP) or shock therapy. The defibrillation threshold (DT) is the minimum shock energy required to terminate VF.
Historically, testing the ICD function via induction and termination of VF was considered mandatory to ensure that the ICD could properly detect and stop the arrhythmic event.
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