ICD improves survival in MADIT II

Kaplan-Meier estimates of the probability of survival in the MADIT II trial in 1232 patients who had a myocardial infarction more than 30 days prior to enrollment (and more than three months if bypass surgery was performed) and an LVEF ≤30 percent. The patients were randomly assigned to a prophylactic ICD or conventional medical therapy. The study was prematurely terminated after an average follow-up of 20 months because the ICD significantly reduced all-cause mortality (14.2 versus 19.8 percent for conventional therapy, hazard ratio 0.65, 95% CI 0.51-0.93). The survival benefit was largely due to a reduction in sudden death.