Implantable cardioverter defibrillators : translating evidence from randomized clinical trials to routine clinical practice

Implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) have become an important treatment op- tion for both patients who survived ventricular arrhythmia and patients with cardiac heart disease at risk for ventricular arrhythmias. The aim of the current thesis is to study ICD patients outside the setting of a clinical trial and compare the findings with evi- dence of routine clinical trials. The thesis is divided in 3 parts: in Part I the long-term follow-up of ICD patients is studied, in Part II the safety of ICD treatment __ including implantation-related complications __ is assessed, and in Part III a patient tailored evalu- ation was conducted to assess which patient characteristics are associated with benefit from ICD treatment.Boehringer Ingelheim; Servier Nederland Farma; Sorin Group Nederland; St. Jude Medical Nederland; Biotronik Nederland; Toshiba Medical Systems; Bronovo Hospital, the HagueUBL - phd migration 201