Beyond ejection fraction: Novel clinical approaches towards sudden cardiac death risk stratification in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy

Abstract

: Implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) therapy is indicated for patients at risk for sudden cardiac death due to ventricular tachyarrhythmia. The most commonly used risk stratification algorithms use left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) to determine which patients qualify for ICD therapy, even though LVEF is a better marker of total mortality than ventricular tachyarrhythmias mortality. This review evaluates imaging tools and novel biomarkers proposed for better risk stratifying arrhythmic substrate, thereby identifying optimal ICD therapy candidates.