DURHAM, N.C. – Implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) reduce the risk of death from sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) among patients with heart failure, and they do so without significantly altering a person’s quality of life, say researchers from Duke University Medical Center. The finding – from the longest and most comprehensive study to date of ICD use to prevent SCA – may go a long way toward easing physician and patient concerns about the side effects of the therapy.
