Relationship of the Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator and Chronic Resynchronization Therapy: The Perfect Marriage?

摘要

The two major modes of death in the patient with a reduced ejection fraction (EF) are death due to heart failure and death due to lethal arrhythmia, essentially the two sides of the same coin. Over the last 20 years, two therapies—cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) and the implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD)—have been developed and tested in clinical trials. They are now, in conjunction with appropriate medical therapy, the mainstays of therapy for these two commonly encountered clinical problems.