International Experience With Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillators for the Prevention of Sudden Death in High-Risk Patients With Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy.

Implantable cardioverter-defibrillators prevent sudden death in 1 of 6 high-risk hypertrophic cardiomyopathy patients globally, with low HCM-related mortality over 20 years.

• Why it matters: Understanding the real-world effectiveness of ICDs across diverse populations addresses gaps from previous studies limited to small, regional cohorts, informing global clinical practice.
• What they did: Analysis of 3387 patients from 25 international centers used retrospective data to evaluate ICD therapy outcomes, including appropriate interventions and survival rates over an average follow-up of 7 years.
• The result: ICDs successfully terminated life-threatening arrhythmias in 16% of patients, significantly reducing HCM-related deaths to 0.3% annually, demonstrating their critical role in improving long-term survival worldwide.