Clinical experience with subcutaneous implantable cardioverter-defibrillators

Implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) reduce mortality in patients with increased risk of sudden cardiac death, but use of these devices has been limited by complications with the intravascular leadsThe subcutaneous ICD (S-ICD) is a new ICD device that avoids placing leads in the cardiac vascular systemThe S-ICD is safe and effective for the treatment of ventricular tachycarrhythmias, but use of S-ICDs is limited by the lack of pacing or remote monitoring capabilitiesThe S-ICD is most commonly used in young patients at risk for ventricular fibrillation, but not ventricular tachycardia, and without pacing indicationsFuture generations of the S-ICD should allow for expanded use and for subcutaneous leads to be combined with leadless pacing, enabling the S-ICD to become the standard ICD device