A new, noninvasive test may help determine which patients are most likely to benefit from implantable cardiac defibrillator ( ICD ).

A large, multicenter, NIH-sponsored study coordinated by Columbia University Medical Center researchers reported on the accuracy of the test.
The study is published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

The test, known as the Microvolt T-wave Alternans ( MTWA ) test, measures the electrical activity in the heart while the patient is performing light exercise on a stationary bicycle or treadmill. It can detect an electrical signal that can identify a heart likely to generate a life-threatening rhythm disturbance, a signal too slight to be detected by the traditional electrocardiogram ( ECG ).

" Until now, it's been difficult to determine which patients need prophylactic ICDs and which are unlikely to be helped by them, but this noninvasive and inexpensive office-based test can identify up to a third of candidates for the devices who are not likely to benefit from them," said J. Thomas Bigger, at Columbia University Medical Center, who conducted the research.

The study followed 549 patients from 11 North American clinical centers for two years following an MWTA test.

Source: Columbia University Medical Center, 2006


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