Implantable cardioverter-defibrillator therapy has now become a standard antiarrhythmic treatment, with the consequence that ICD technology is advancing apace. The ICD comes in increasingly smaller sizes, performs a greater range of pacing and defibrillation therapies, is supported by a range of diagnostics and telemetry, and very significantly, the ICD is now generally recognised as a more effective therapy for many arrhythmia patients than antiarrhythmic drugs such as amiodarone.

The aim of the Clinical Approaches to Tachyarryhthmias series is to update the physician, cardiologist, and all those responsible for the the care of patients with cardiac arrhythmias. In this volume, Martin Fromer reviews the current status of the implantable defibrillator, recent technical developments, and indications for its use.