HRS 2010: Subcutaneous ICD Generates Excitement, Controversy

Executive Summary

In the years since the dawn of the ICD era in the 1980s, perhaps four expansions of the implantable cardioverter defibrillator have captured the imagination of electrophysiologists and signaled unqualified success for the major manufacturers of these life-saving devices. Now, a new generation of ICD--the S-ICD or totally subcutaneous ICD--has the potential to join those sophisticated devices as the next truly evolutionary development in the field. Interest in the S-ICD picked up steam this spring in Denver at the 31st annual scientific sessions of the Heart Rhythm Society, where researchers presented the latest clinical results with the device.