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Definition
By Mayo Clinic staffAn implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) — a pager-sized device that's implanted into your chest — may reduce your risk of dying if the lower chambers of your heart (ventricles) go into a dangerous rhythm and stop beating effectively (cardiac arrest). You may need an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator if you have a dangerously fast heartbeat (ventricular tachycardia) or a chaotic heartbeat that makes it so your heart can't supply enough blood to the rest of your body (ventricular fibrillation).
Implantable cardioverter-defibrillators work by detecting and stopping abnormal heartbeats (arrhythmias). An implantable cardioverter-defibrillator continuously monitors your heartbeat and delivers extra beats or electrical shocks to restore a normal heart rhythm when necessary. An ICD differs from a pacemaker — another implantable device sometimes used to treat less dangerous heart rhythms, such as those that occur in the upper chambers of your heart (atria).
- Implantable cardioverter defibrillator. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/icd/icd_all.html. Accessed March 14, 2013.
- Epstein AE, et al. 2012 ACC/AHA/HRS focused update incorporated into the ACC/AHA/HRS 2008 guidelines for device-based therapy of cardiac rhythm abnormalities. Circulation. 2013;127:e283.
- Devices that may interfere with implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs). American Heart Association. http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/Conditions/Arrhythmia/PreventionTreatmentofArrhythmia/Devices-that-may-Interfere-with-Implantable-Cardioverter-Defibrillators-ICDs_UCM_448464_Article.jsp. Accessed March 14, 2013.
- Living with your implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD). http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/Conditions/Arrhythmia/PreventionTreatmentofArrhythmia/Living-With-Your-Implantable-Cardioverter-Defibrillator-ICD_UCM_448462_Article.jsp. Accessed March 14, 2013.
- Banning AS, et al. Driving and arrhythmia: A review of scientific basis for international guidelines. European Heart Journal. 2013;34:236.
- Epstein AE, et al. Addendum to ''Personal and public safety issues related to arrhythmias that may affect consciousness: Implications for regulation and physician recommendations — A medical/scientific statement from the American Heart Association and the North American Society of Pacing and Electrophysiology" public safety issues in patients with implantable defibrillators. Circulation. 2007;115:1170.
- Eifling M, et al. The evaluation and management of electrical storm. Texas Heart Institute Journal. 2011;38:111.
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