Wearable Defibrillator in Congenital Structural Heart Disease and Inherited Arrhythmias

Patients with congenital structural heart disease (CSHD) and inherited arrhythmias (IAs) are at high risk of ventricular tachyarrhythmias and sudden cardiac death. The present study was designed to evaluate the short- and long-term outcomes of patients with CSHD and IA who received a wearable cardioverter-defibrillator (WCD) for the prevention of sudden cardiac death. The study population included 162 patients with CSHD (n = 43) and IA (n = 119) who were prospectively followed up in a nationwide registry from 2005 to 2010. The mortality rates were compared using Kaplan-Meier survival analysis. The mean age of the study patients was 38 ± 27 years. The patients with CSHD had a greater frequency of left ventricular dysfunction (ejection fraction <30%) than did the patients with IA (37% vs 5%, respectively; p = 0.002). The predominant indication for WCD was pending genetic testing in the IA group and transplant listing in the CSHD group. Compliance with the WCD was similar in the 2 groups (91%). WCD shocks successfully terminated 3 ventricular tachyarrhythmias in the patients with IA during a median follow-up of 29 days of therapy (corresponding to 23 appropriate WCD shocks per 100 patient-years). No arrhythmias occurred in the patients with CSHD during a median follow-up of 27 days. No patients died while actively wearing the WCD. At 1 year of follow-up, the survival rates were significantly lower among the patients with CSHD (87%) than among the patients with IA (97%, p = 0.02). In conclusion, our data suggest that the WCD can be safely used in high-risk adult patients with IA and CSHD. Patients with IA showed a greater rate of ventricular tachyarrhythmias during therapy but significantly lower long-term mortality rates.