Cardiac Breakthrough Could Offer Lifesaving Treatment to More Patients

A decade-long randomized trial across 18 sites in Australia, Germany, and the UK found that implantable cardioverter-defibrillators reduced sudden cardiac death and showed significant benefit in patients younger than 70 with mild-to-moderate heart dysfunction and cardiac scarring—a group currently outside standard treatment guidelines.

The primary endpoint across all age groups did not reach statistical significance; benefits were clearest in patients under 70.