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Ten‐year Follow‐up on 1,000 Patients with Transvenous Electrodes
Author(s) -
LAGERGREN HANS,
LEVANDERLINDGREN MAJ
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
pacing and clinical electrophysiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.686
H-Index - 101
eISSN - 1540-8159
pISSN - 0147-8389
DOI - 10.1111/j.1540-8159.1984.tb05654.x
Subject(s) - medicine , electrode , surgery , pulse generator , pulse (music) , chemistry , physics , quantum mechanics , voltage , detector , electrical engineering , engineering
One thousand patients given a transvenous electrode EMT 588 until mid‐January, 1974, were followed up for a minimum of 10 year. Two hundred ninety‐six patients survived this time or longer. Fully 30% of them were above the age of 70 when first paced. During the observation period, 34% of the survivors had electrode complications requiring electrode replacement. These occurred in almost 14% during the first year of treatment. Electrode failures during the first year were due mainly to dislocations and rises in the stimulation threshold, while later failures were caused chiefly by damage to the lead, which was caused, in part, by repeated pulse generator replacements and infections. Half of the patients who survived for more than 15 years have the original electrode, the oldest one now exceeding 22 years.