New Data Provide First Look at Ability to Detect Life-Threatening Heart Problems in Some High-Risk Patients

BALTIMORE, May 5, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — New data presented today
at the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions
(SCAI) Scientific Sessions are the first to look at the use of
highly specialized signals within implantable cardioverter
defibrillators (ICDs) to detect restricted blood flow to the heart
in high-risk cardiovascular disease patients outside the hospital
setting. Preliminary results from the ST-DETECT Trial using
high-fidelity intracardiac electrogram (EGM) signals in ICDs show a
low spontaneous coronary event rate (such as heart attack) among
these patients.

Using EGM signals to monitor and detect changes in the function
of the heart has been studied in recent years, but these data are
the first to examine the system specifically in patients with ICDs.
ICDs are used in patients at risk for recurrent, sustained
ventricular tachycardia or fibrillation, when the heart beats too
quickly at a rate of more than 100 beats per minute. When an ICD
detects ventricular tachycardia or fibrillation, it provides a
painless shock to the heart to restore the normal rhythm and can
potentially save the patient’s life. The addition of the EGM
signaling system has the potential to alert healthcare providers
and the patients themselves if the patient is undergoing, or is
about to undergo, a heart attack, allowing the patient optimal time
to seek prompt treatment.

In the study, patients from 27 participating centers were
monitored for 24 months following implantation of ICDs containing
software for EGM. Patients qualified as high risk for a spontaneous
coronary event (such as heart attack) by having one or more of the
following risk factors: