Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42613110›Full record

ArticleBMJ open2026

Prophylactic implantation of implantable cardioverter-defibrillator for the primary prevention of sudden cardiac death after myocardial infarction: protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials.

Anjalee Thanuja Amarasekera, Anoja W Gunaratne, Joshua G Kovoor, Aravinda Thiagalingam, Clara Chow, Sarah Zaman, Gopal Sivagangabalan, Matthew Kuang Yu Tung, Martin Stiles, Ian Crozier and 22 more

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in BMJ open, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

32 authors.

Anjalee Thanuja AmarasekeraWestmead Applied Research Centre (WARC), Sydney Medical School, Westmead Campus, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3922-2914
Anoja W GunaratneWestmead Applied Research Centre (WARC), Sydney Medical School, Westmead Campus, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Joshua G KovoorAdelaide University, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3880-3840
Aravinda ThiagalingamWestmead Applied Research Centre (WARC), Sydney Medical School, Westmead Campus, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Clara ChowWestmead Applied Research Centre (WARC), Sydney Medical School, Westmead Campus, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Sarah ZamanWestmead Applied Research Centre (WARC), Sydney Medical School, Westmead Campus, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6289-583X
Gopal SivagangabalanDepartment of Cardiology, Westmead Hospital, Western Sydney Local Health District (WSLHD), NSW Health, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Matthew Kuang Yu TungSunshine Coast Hospital and Health Service, Nambour, Queensland, Australia.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7088-226X
Martin StilesWaikato Hospital, Health New Zealand, The University of Auckland Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, Auckland, New Zealand.
Ian CrozierChristchurch Hospital, Health New Zealand, Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand.
Keng Tat KohSarawak Heart Center, Kota Samarahan, Sarawak, Malaysia.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8179-2315
Christian SticherlingUniversity Heart Centre Basel, University Hospital Basel Clinic for Cardiology, Basel, Switzerland.
Tobias ReichlinDepartment of Cardiology, Inselspital University Hospital Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
Jerzy Krzysztof WraniczDepartment of Electrocardiology, Medical University of Lodz, Łódź, Łódź Voivodeship, Poland.
Dimitrios AvramidesGeneral Hospital of Athens (G.Gennimatas), Athens, Greece.
Konstantinos TsioufisFirst Department of Cardiology, General Hospital of Athens Ippokrateio, Athens, Attica, Greece.
Oliver RitterDepartment of Cardiology, Brandenburg an der Havel University Hospital, Brandenburg, Germany.
Kerstin BodeHelios Health Institute GmbH, Leipzig, Germany.
Oholi Tovia-BrodieJesselson Integrated Heart Center, The Eisenberg R&D Authority, Shaare Zedek Medical Center, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Jerusalem District, Israel.
Karin ChiaDepartment of Cardiology,Royal North Shore Hospital, Northern Sydney Local Health District (NSLHD), NSW Health, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Robert E ParkDepartment of Cardiology, Gold Coast University Hospital, Southport, Queensland, Australia.
Karin NentwichBad Neustadt an der Saale, Cardiovascular Center Bad Neustadt, Saale, Germany.
Yoav MichowitzJesselson Integrated Heart Center, The Eisenberg R&D Authority, Shaare Zedek Medical Center, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Jerusalem District, Israel.
Martin SvetlosakNational Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases, Comenius University in Bratislava, Bratislava, Bratislava Region, Slovakia.
Robert HatalaNational Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases, Comenius University in Bratislava, Bratislava, Bratislava Region, Slovakia.
Markus ZabelDepartment of Cardiology and Pneumology, University Hospital of Gottingen, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Gottingen, Germany.
Vivien Klaudia NagyHeart and Vascular Center, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary.
Béla MerkelyHeart and Vascular Center, Semmelweis University, Heart Center, FIFA Medical Centre of Excellence, Budapest, Hungary.
Andrew TaylorDepartment of Cardiology, The Royal Melbourne Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Laurent BillotCentre for Operational and Research Excellence, University of New South Wales, The George Institute for Global Health, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4975-9793
Pramesh KovoorWestmead Applied Research Centre (WARC), Sydney Medical School, Westmead Campus, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia pramesh.kovoor@sydney.edu.au.
PROTECT-ICD Study Investigators

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

introductionCardiovascular disease is a leading cause of death worldwide, of which coronary artery disease is the most common form. Sudden cardiac death (SCD) is a serious complication following acute myocardial infarction (MI), accounting for the highest percentage of all deaths in this population. Currently implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) provide an acceptable method of primary prevention of SCD. However, the current literature is heterogeneous with regard to studies evaluating the benefits of ICDs for the primary prevention of SCD after MI, particularly relating to the timing of ICD implantation, risk stratification of patients for ICD implant selection and reporting non-rhythmic deaths after ICD implantation. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: A meta-analysis will be performed to estimate the pooled effect size of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) examining the relationship between prophylactic transvenous ICD (TV-ICD) implantation and other medical therapies for primary prevention of SCD after MI. A comprehensive literature search and review will be performed using electronic medical databases including Scopus, Ovid MEDLINE, EMBASE (Ovid Platform), Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), PubMed, ProQuest (Health and Medicine) and CINAHL (EBSCO) from January 1980 to June 2025. The literature search will be limited to peer-reviewed original studies carried out in human subjects and published in English. Type of study design will be limited to RCTs. The systematic review and meta-analysis will be developed according to the Joanna Briggs Institute Manual for Evidence Synthesis (2024 edition) and conducted according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis 2020 guidelines. Data analysis will be performed according to a structured and predetermined analysis plan. The primary outcome of the study will be all-cause-mortality, for which Hazard Ratios (HRs) will be reported as a measure of effect with 95% CI. Based on data availability, subgroup analysis will be carried out. The effect sizes will be reported based on a random effects model. EXPECTED STUDY OUTCOMES AND DISSEMINATION: This systematic review and meta-analysis will evaluate and provide primary evidence for the effectiveness of prophylactic implantation of TV-ICDs on all-cause mortality in patients who experienced MI, aiming for primary prevention of SCD after MI. The primary prevention of SCD after MI is an important goal to reduce community incidence of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests, improving patient survival rates and their quality of life after MI. Out-of-hospital cardiac arrests currently have a survival rate of less than 10% and could result in long-lasting neurological damage in those who survive. PROSPERO REGISTRATION: CRD42023456995.

Indexed as

Death, Sudden, CardiacDefibrillators, ImplantableMyocardial InfarctionPrimary PreventionHumansMeta-Analysis as TopicRandomized Controlled Trials as TopicResearch DesignSystematic Reviews as TopicDeath, Sudden, CardiacDefibrillatorsMeta-AnalysisMyocardial infarctionOut-of-Hospital Cardiac ArrestSystematic Review

Identifiers

PMID42613110
PMCPMC13504510

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.