Patient Alerting Features in Implantable Defibrillators

Implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICD) are state of the art devices for the primary and secondary prevention of sudden cardiac death.1 As a result, the use of ICDs has increased remarkably over the past years. Since they are life saving devices and because dysfunction can cause fatal pro-arrhythmia2, monitoring of their proper functioning is vital for patient welfare. To date, conventional ICD follow-up is in the form of device clinics where the ICD is interrogated and programmed periodically and the appropriate system function is ensured. Remote device monitoring has recently been introduced and may provide advantages especially for patients living further away from the implanting center.3 Another important feature of current ICDs is the ability to monitor the device function and the patient clinical status, and to alert the patient if evidence for system dysfunction or adverse clinical events is found. This article gives an overview about patient alerting features of current ICDs.