Current Device Therapies for Sudden Cardiac Death Prevention – the ICD, Subcutaneous ICD and Wearable ICD

Defibrillator technology for sudden cardiac death (SCD) prevention now includes the transvenous implantable cardiac defibrillator (ICD), subcutaneous ICD (S-ICD) and wearable cardioverter defibrillator (WCD). ICD use improves survival in patients who survived previous sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) due to ventricular tachycardia (VT)/ventricular fibrillation (VF), as well as in patients who experienced haemodynamically significant VT. It is also currently indicated for primary prevention in ischaemic/non-ischaemic cardiomyopathies, certain congenital heart disease conditions and inherited channelopathies. In this review article, we hope to present an updated review on ICD use for SCD prevention, with a focus on contemporary issues affecting ICD selection. These include: the role of primary prevention ICD in patients with non-ischaemic cardiomyopathy (NICM) in light of the 2016 DANISH (Danish Study to Assess the Efficacy of ICDs in Patients with Non-Ischemic Systolic Heart Failure on Mortality) trial; the role of defibrillator component (CRT-D) in patients receiving cardiac resynchronisation therapy (CRT-P); and the emerging role of cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (cMRI) in particular, the presence of late gadolinium enhancement (LGE), as an important SCD risk predictor. The current use of S-ICD and WCD, including clinical indications, evidence for efficacy and limitations, will also be discussed.