WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - St. Jude Medical, Inc. (STJ) announced results of the SCD-HeFT (Sudden Cardiac Death in Heart Failure Trial) 10-Year Follow-up Study at Heart Rhythm 2012, the Heart Rhythm Society's 33rd Annual Scientific Sessions in Boston.
The company said that the study demonstrated implantable cardioverter defibrillator or ICD therapy significantly reduces mortality for at least 11 years in patients with moderate heart failure or HF.
Among the findings, the long-term mortality of patients with a conservatively programmed, shock-only ICD was significantly lower than patients who did not receive a device, the company said.
The absolute 12-year mortality rate for patients originally randomized to the ICD group was 5 percent lower than the group originally randomized to the placebo group (despite a significant number of the control patients receiving devices after the end of the original trial).
As seen in the original SCD-HeFT trial results, the mortality difference was much more significant in patients with New York Heart Association (NYHA) Class II than NYHA Class III HF (who did not have the benefit of cardiac resynchronization therapy at the time of the trial). The survival benefit was also greatest in patients with an ischemic etiology (HF caused by impaired coronary artery blood flow).
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© 2012 AFX News
