News

Doctor's Training Affects Defibrillator Implant Results

The study of a registry of 111,293 defibrillator implants, done between January 2006 and June 2007, found that 70.9 percent of them were performed by electrophysiologists; 21.9 percent were performed by other cardiologists; 1.7 percent by thoracic surgeons; and 5.5 percent by other specialists.

When the procedure was done by an electrophysiologist, complications occurred in 3.5 percent of cases. The incidence was 4 percent for other cardiologists, and 5.8 percent for thoracic surgeons, according to the study.

"Our study suggests that, in general, people are better served by having them [defibrillators] implanted by electrophysiologists," Curtis said.

Another marked difference found in the study concerned people who require an implanted defibrillator that provides cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT-D). "These are patients with heart failure, in which the heart is not only weak and inefficient but also beats in a disorganized way," Curtis explained.

While a standard implanted defibrillator has one or two "leads" -- electrical wires attached to deliver impulses to the heart muscle -- a CRT-D device uses three leads to keep the heart beating properly.