Doctors at the Fortis Escorts Heart Institute implanted India’s first Subcutaneous Implantable Defibrillator (S-ICD) on a 48-year-old heart patient from Bihar.
The S-ICD system is approved for patients who are at a risk of sudden cardiac death due to life threatening ventricular arrhythmias and those who do not require a pacemaker. The patient was treated by Ashok Seth, chairman, Fortis Escorts Heart Institute, and Anil Saxena, director of Cardiac Pacing and Electrophysiology, who implanted the device.
The patient, Arvind Sahay, had suffered damage to his heart following a heart attack in October, 2014, and his heart was pumping at a low efficiency of only 25-30 per cent. He had undergone angiography and angioplasty with three stents after the heart attack and was breathless on occasions. In view of his poor heart function and the risk of sudden death, the decision to implant the subcutaneous ICD was taken.
Dr. Seth said, “This first case of S-ICD in India will be a strong hope for several potential ICD patients who could be at risk of sudden death, including those with poor veins and those at high risk for major infection associated with a transvenous lead.’’
He said that sudden cardiac death is a major public health problem in India and accounts for about 10 per cent of all deaths in the country. Nearly, 80 per cent of these deaths are due to ventricular arrhythmias, a large number of which can be prevented by timely resuscitation.
Implantable defibrillators (ICDs) have changed the outlook for such patients, by significantly reducing the risk of sudden cardiac death and totally external subcutaneous ICD is a landmark advancement in this direction. The subcutaneous ICD is an innovative device which does not require any lead to go into the chamber of the heart for its functioning unlike the other previous devices.
S-ICD is approved for patients who are at a risk of sudden cardiac death due to life threatening ventricular arrhythmias
