23
Oct
ICDs can accomplish what heart medication cannot
The American Heart Association recommends that people take aspirin if they have suffered a heart attack because it can help prevent the incidence of recurrence.
"Studies have been done, however, that shows that an implanted defibrillator saves more lives than someone taking an aspirin or other type of medication," Dr. Mohammed Khan, MD, selected as a Chicago Top Doctor by TopTierMD as a top rated cardiologist in Chicago, says. "Defibrillators are one of the few things that we have clear evidence on that shows that it saves lives."
Implantable cardioverter-defibrillators, or ICDs, are small, battery-powered electrical impulse generators that are implanted into patients who show a risk for sudden cardiac death from ventricular fibrillation and ventricular tachycardia.
"ICDs have all of the capabilities of a pacemaker but are able to shock the heart if it goes into a fast rhythm," Dr. Khan says. "The whole idea is to help patients with weak hearts avoid catastrophic fast rhythms and to prevent or treat congestive heart failure in weak hearts.
ICDs are implanted in a similar manner as pacemakers. A doctor will make a one to two inch incision in the left chest, make a pocket and place the device and the battery. Electrode wires are then passed through a vein to the right ventricle of the heart.
"It's not too bad of a procedure and it only takes about an hour to do it," Dr. Khan says. "Recovery time is overnight, with the vast majority of patients going home the next day.
"In the vast majority of patients, ICDs require regular follow-up visits to check the device, which we can do through a remote connection. There are maintenance visits about every three months. Occasionally, ICDs will need to have their leads changed out."
The quality of life for patients who receive an ICD, Dr. Khan says, is enormous.
"The vast majority of patients who get them are able to have a normal quality of life and go back to doing their normal, daily routine. These defibrillators, when you compare them to people who don't receive them, also decrease mortality by 30 to 50 percent in the population with weak hearts."
ICDs have an added value of allowing doctors to monitor a patient's heart much more easily than they normally could.
"These devices have gotten fairly sophisticated," Dr. Khan says. "We can now check the device and how the patient is doing and see if they might be going into heart failure. This allows us to catch that in an early stage."
For patients considering an ICD, Dr. Khan says, one of the most important things to examine is the ability of the doctor, which is often bolstered by the number of implantations they have performed.
"I think, what can make a doctor stand out as being above average at implanting an ICD, is the number of procedures you have done, as it is with most types of invasive procedures," Dr. Khan says. "Volume matters. These procedures are highly complicated."
Dr. Mohammed Khan, MD, was selected by TopTierMD as a Chicago Top Doctor and is considered Best in Cardiology in Chicago. He specializes in atrial fibrillation, ablation and ICDs.
