Less Patient-Centered Care: An Unintended Consequence of Guidelines? Comment on “Patient Perceptions, Physician Communication, and the Implantable Cardioverter-Defibrillator”

Sudden cardiac death is a leading cause of death in the United States and worldwide. The first successful insertion of an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) in the 1980s heralded a new era of treatment for sudden cardiac death. Although ICDs were initially implanted to prevent the death of patients who had survived a potentially lethal arrhythmia, randomized controlled trials have also demonstrated the efficacy of ICDs for patients at high risk of having a sudden cardiac death.¹ Consequently, ICDs have become a guideline-recommended mainstay of treatment for the primary and secondary prevention of sudden cardiac death.