Table 2.

Summary of studies assessing postshock pacing in ICD, S-ICD, and WCD patients.

Authors	Country, year	No. of patients	Studied group	Study conclusions
Budeus et al. [40]		314	PSP analyzed in S-ICD patients undergoing DFT (induced arrhythmias in general anesthesia)	PSP required and appropriately initiated in 25.2% patients following the shock. No episodes of induced arrhythmias or any other harm associated with PSP were detected
Zoll et al. [7]	Italy, 2017	1068	Spontaneous arrhythmias	43.4% of the ICD patients successfully paced following shock; there were no adverse reactions related to pacing
Berger et al. [44]	USA, 2023	313	313 patients dying out of hospital when wearing WCD	Postshock asystole occurred in 205 (65.2%) and postshock bradycardia in 111 (35.5%) patients who died OOH after being shocked by a WCD for VF or VT. Implanted pacemakers may not prevent asystole or bradycardia after a WCD shock
Abbott et al. [42]	Germany, 2023	780	Evaluation of BNP levels pre and post DFT in patients without postshock pacing and with different rates and durations of PSP	Patients without postshock pacing showed the highest BNP during the follow-up. Patients with postshock pacing with 90 bpm and duration of 60 s had the most favorable BNP level trends compared to other patients

Note: DFT = defibrillation threshold test.

Abbreviations: BNP = blood natriuretic peptide; S-ICD = subcutaneous ICD; WCD = wearable cardioverter defibrillator.