Cardiovascular News

MADIT II: Groundbreaking Cardiac Trial

A 2002 study showed that Guidant implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) can decrease the risk of death for heart attack survivors. This study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine. It was called the Multicenter Automatic Defibrillator Implantation Trial II (MADIT II); you may have heard of it. The study showed that heart attack survivors treated with an ICD and medication may have a reduced risk of death. This result was in comparison to people in the trial who only took medications but did not have an ICD implant.

MADIT II patients with ICDs had a 31% reduced risk of death. This outcome was in comparison to patients in the study who did not have an ICD. These results confirmed that ICDs can save lives.

MADIT II may result in more heart attack survivors being treated with ICDs. As stated on September 20, 2002, in the Wall Street Journal, “up to twice as many heart patients could become eligible to have defibrillators implanted in their chests.”*

“The fact that more patients could benefit from ICDs underscores how big the problem is,” says F. Roosevelt Gilliam, MD, from Richmond, Virginia. “I am very encouraged that we will be able to treat more patients. There are definitely more patients out there that can benefit. This is very exciting.”

MADIT II certainly showed that ICDs can save lives. It may also change how doctors decide who gets an ICD. MADIT II showed that doctors can give heart attack survivors ICDs based on one test. This test is a measurement of the ejection fraction (EF). EF measures how well your heart pumps blood to your body. Based on this study’s results, doctors may look more closely at a patient’s EF and consider an ICD.

“More often than not, you don’t have a chance for a second chance,” says Dr. Gilliam. “The best hope is to identify these patients early on who are at high risk for sudden cardiac death. MADIT II shows that there has been an evolution in therapy. It showed the lifesaving potential of the ICDs.”

If you know someone who has had a heart attack, you can tell him or her about MADIT II and ICDs. Here are some questions they can ask their doctor about ICD therapy:

Is my ejection fraction 30% or lower?
How do you decide if a patient should get an ICD?
Could I benefit from receiving an ICD?

Talk to your
doctor about
important safety
information.

Studies like MADIT II can help cardiac patients live longer, healthier lives. Guidant is committed to important clinical research, like MADIT II. As a result of MADIT II, more patients are already being treated with lifesaving ICDs.

*Based on guidelines from the American College of Cardiology (ACC), the Heart Rhythm Society, and the American Heart Association (AHA).

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