Study: Overuse of Implanted Cardiac Defibrillators
Study: Overuse of Implanted Cardiac Defibrillators
Jan. 4, 2011 -- More than 20% of patients who receive implanted devices that help shock the heart out of dangerous rhythms (arrhythmias) get them when clinical guidelines suggest they are unlikely to benefit from the expensive and sometimes painful intervention, a study shows.
What’s more, these patients have a modestly but significantly higher risk of dying in the hospital compared to those who do meet clinical criteria for the devices.
“I thought it was a very important study, particularly because it captures information about 80% of all the defibrillator implants in the United States,” says Alan Kadish, MD, a cardiologist who is president and chief executive officer of Touro College in New York City. “What it shows is that about one-fifth of these implants were performed in people who are not expected to benefit from them.”
Kadish was the co-author of an editorial that accompanies the study, which is published in the Jan. 5 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association.
Previous studies looking at the clinical use of implanted cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) have come to similar conclusions, leading the Office of the Inspector General at the Department of Health and Human Services to launch an investigation last yearinto how people are being chosen to receive these devices at hospitals across the country. The stakes of the investigation are high since these devices can be lifesaving, but the cost of implantation of a single ICD can range from $30,000 to $40,000.
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What’s more, these patients have a modestly but significantly higher risk of dying in the hospital compared to those who do meet clinical criteria for the devices.
“I thought it was a very important study, particularly because it captures information about 80% of all the defibrillator implants in the United States,” says Alan Kadish, MD, a cardiologist who is president and chief executive officer of Touro College in New York City. “What it shows is that about one-fifth of these implants were performed in people who are not expected to benefit from them.”
Kadish was the co-author of an editorial that accompanies the study, which is published in the Jan. 5 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association.
Previous studies looking at the clinical use of implanted cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) have come to similar conclusions, leading the Office of the Inspector General at the Department of Health and Human Services to launch an investigation last yearinto how people are being chosen to receive these devices at hospitals across the country. The stakes of the investigation are high since these devices can be lifesaving, but the cost of implantation of a single ICD can range from $30,000 to $40,000.
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