Studies have shown that patients who have had heart attacks and decreased heart function are at increased risk for abnormal heart rhythms and in some cases, sudden cardiac death.  Implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) devices have emerged as an important treatment to prevent sudden cardiac death in selected patients.  Current practice guidelines dictate that patients who have had heart attacks generally need to wait a minimum of 40 days (up to 3 months) before undergoing ICD implantation.  However, other studies have shown that the risk of sudden cardiac death is highest in the weeks following a heart attack (during this waiting period).  Therefore, it is not clear at this time how to best treat patients who have had heart attacks with decreased heart function who need to wait 40 days to 3 months before being considered for an ICD.

This research is made up of two parts, the first part is a 2-3 month study called the Vest Prevention of early Sudden Death Trial (VEST) and the second part is a 5 year (average) follow-up study called Prediction of ICD Therapies Study (PREDICTS).    The first part is designed to answer the question of whether or not an external, wearable defibrillator called a LifeVest can help prevent sudden cardiac death in patients waiting for an ICD.  The second part is designed to develop a system to best predict which patients are at risk for abnormal heart beats and sudden cardiac death.