Implantable Cardioverter-Defibrillator (ICD)

Why Would I Need an ICD?

Normally, your heart has a natural pacemaker that helps your heart beat steadily. An electrical current starts in one of the upper chambers (called atria) of the heart and goes through the heart to the bottom chambers (called ventricles). You may need an ICD if you have had, or are at risk of having certain heart rhythm problems (ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation).

What is Ventricular Tachycardia?

When the heart beats too fast it's called tachycardia. When the problem begins in the bottom chambers of the heart, it's called ventricular tachycardia. When your heart goes into ventricular tachycardia, it doesn't pump blood very well. As a result, less blood reaches your brain and body and you may feel dizzy or faint. If ventricular tachycardia isn't treated properly, it can be life threatening.

 “Unity” Device- New Technology Offers Heart Failure Patients More Coordinated Care

Deborah Heart and Lung Center has announced its use of new technology, recently approved by the FDA, for treating patients with potentially lethal heart arrhythmias and heart failure.

Deborah’s Director of the Electromechanical Institute, Dr. Raffaele Corbisiero, said that his team had recently debuted two new devices: the Current ICD (an implantable cardioverter defibirillator) and Promote CRT-D (a cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillator). Both manufactured by St. Jude Medical in Minnesota, the two devices are part of a new consolidated hardware and software platform, the “Unity” device platform.

The Unity platform offers patients with these devices access to quick updates, new features, and enhanced diagnostics as they become available. This is possible since the basic framework for the devices has now been standardized.

Deborah was the first hospital in New Jersey to have access to this new technology, and is presently the only South Jersey hospital with these capabilities. 

For patients with implanted devices this means that as time goes by and programming and software changes, their devices can easily be updated with a minimum of medical intervention.

“This exciting new technology continues to keep us on the leading edge of cardiac care in New Jersey,” said Dr. Corbisiero. “Our Heart Failure Management program is a leader, not only because of the skills of the doctors in the Electromechanical Therapy Institute, but because we are able to bring these cutting-edge techniques to our patients.”