A Tragic Case of Wearable Cardioverter-Defibrillator Failure

Ariel Vinas; Debanshu Roy; Cynthia Saunders; Auroa Badin; Manoj M Panday; Jayasree Pillarisetti

doi:10.1016/j.jaccas.2020.12.016

A Tragic Case of Wearable Cardioverter-Defibrillator Failure

JACC Case Rep. 2021 Feb 17;3(2):322-326. doi: 10.1016/j.jaccas.2020.12.016. eCollection 2021 Feb.

Authors

Ariel Vinas¹, Debanshu Roy¹, Cynthia Saunders¹, Auroa Badin¹, Manoj M Panday¹, Jayasree Pillarisetti¹

Affiliation

¹ Department of Medicine and Division of Cardiology, UT Health San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas, USA.

Abstract

The American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association guidelines recommend a wearable cardioverter defibrillator (WCD) for certain conditions or scenarios. WCD is felt to provide adequate protection against ventricular arrhythmias. This case highlights failure of a WCD to detect and deliver life-saving therapy and the need for improved detection algorithms. (Level of Difficulty: Beginner.).

Keywords: FFT, fast Fourier transformation; ICD, implantable cardioverter defibrillator; TruVector detection algorithm; VF, ventricular fibrillation; VT, ventricular tachycardia; WCD, wearable cardioverter defibrillator; s/p, status post; ventricular fibrillation; ventricular tachycardia; wearable cardioverter defibrillator.

Publication types

Case Reports