Discrepancies between the upper limit of vulnerability and defibrillation threshold: prevalence and clinical predictors

Using the Upper Limit of Vulnerability to Assess Defibrillation Efficacy at Implantation of ICDs

The upper limit of vulnerability (ULV) is the weakest shock strength at or above which ventricular fibrillation (VF) is not induced when the shock is delivered during the vulnerable period. The ULV, a measurement made in regular rhythm, provides an estimate of the minimum shock strength required for reliable defibrillation that is as accurate or more accurate than the defibrillation threshold (DFT). The ULV hypothesis of defibrillation postulates a mechanistic relationship between the ULV-measured during regular rhythm-and the minimum shock strength that defibrillates reliably. Vulnerability testing can be applied at implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) implant to confirm a clinically adequate defibrillation safety margin without inducing VF in 75%-95% of ICD recipients. Alternatively, the ULV provides an accurate patient-specific safety margin with a single fibrillation-defibrillation episode. Programming first ICD shocks based on patient-specific measurements of ULV rather than programming routinely to maximum output shortens charge time and may reduce the probability of syncope as ICDs age and charge times increase. Because the ULV is more reproducible than the DFT, it provides greater statistical power for clinical research with fewer episodes of VF. Limited evidence suggests that vulnerability testing is safer than conventional defibrillation testing.

Defibrillation Depends on Conductivity Fluctuations and the Degree of Disorganization in Reentry Patterns

Defibrillation depends on conductivity and disorganization.

INTRODUCTION

Cardiac fibrillation is the deterioration of the heart's normally well-organized activity into one or more meandering spiral waves, which subsequently break up into many meandering wave fronts. Delivery of an electric shock (defibrillation) is the only effective way of restoring the normal rhythm. This study focuses on examining whether higher degrees of disorganization requires higher shock strengths to defibrillate and whether microscopic conductivity fluctuations favor shock success.

METHODS AND RESULTS

We developed a three-dimensional computer bidomain model of a block of cardiac tissue with straight fibers immersed in a conductive bath. The membrane behavior was described by the Courtemanche human atrial action potential model incorporating electroporation and an acetylcholine- (ACh) dependent potassium current. Intracellular conductivities were varied stochastically around nominal values with variations of up to 50%. A single rotor reentry was initiated and, by adjusting the spatial ACh variation, the level of organization could be controlled. The single rotor could be stabilized or spiral wave breakup could be provoked leading to fibrillatory-like activity. For each level of organization, multiple shock timings and strengths were applied to compute the probability of shock success as a function of shock strength.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results suggest that the level of the small-scale conductivity fluctuations is a very important factor in defibrillation. A higher variation significantly lowers the required shock strength. Further, we demonstrated that success also heavily depends on the level of organization of the fibrillatory episode. In general, higher levels of disorganization require higher shock strengths to defibrillate.