For something that is a little smaller than an i Pod, the implantable cardioverter defibrillator carries quite a punch.
The implant has small wires running to the chambers of the heart. If there is any disruption like ventricular fibrillation the implant sends off a burst of electricity to force the heart into a normal rhythm.
Before the (ICD) an attack of ventricular fibrillation was often deadly.
The implant works on the same premise as the heart paddles that are used in most emergency rooms or trauma centers, to shock a patient back to life.
The invention of the (ICD) has given people with heart …read more

More and more children with congenital heart disease are receiving implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) to maintain proper heart rhythm. ICDs were first introduced for adults in the 1980s, but little is known about how well they work in children, who account for less than 1 percent of recipients. A report in the April 29 Journal of the American College of Cardiology summarizes the largest pediatric experience to date. It finds the devices to be life-saving, but also suggests that they tend to deliver more inappropriate shocks to children than to adults, making it important to watch children with ICDs closely.
Bottom line …read more

Implanted cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) may be less likely to fail now than before, but still malfunction 20 times more often than pacemakers and need to be replaced an average of 26.5 months after initial implant. Replacing problematic ICD’s is no easy matter, a survey of Canadian ICD implanting centers found:
Re

5.8% of patients who had ICDs removed after manufacturers issued recalls had major complications, including two deaths
An additional 2.3% had minor complications

ICD’s are particular difficult to remove because they use a larger lead, which carries a “recognized higher risk of extraction” especially when using a laser lead extraction machine that requires …read more