Project My Heart Your Heart: An Idea Whose Time Has Come

It is estimated that nearly 1 million patients in low-income countries die every year from bradyarrhythmias coupled with no access to a pacemaker. At the same time, it is estimated that tens of thousands of used devices could be harvested from hospitals, funeral homes, and crematories in wealthy nations if such a practice was legal and proven to be safe and efficacious. Project My Heart Your Heart is a collaborative, multinational effort with a goal of making pacemaker recycling a reality. Since its inception 4 years ago, the project has studied beliefs and attitudes of this idea among patients, pacemaker recipients, funeral home directors, and arrhythmia specialists. The project has explored the safety and efficacy of this practice in several small pilot studies. Nearly 15,000 used devices have been received and evaluated. Efforts to fully define optimal methods for sterilization and device processing have progressed positively. Safe, effective pacemaker recycling is possible and is generally supported by the public, patients, and cardiovascular specialists. An ongoing dialogue with the FDA will hopefully lead to a large pivotal study in five countries which will definitively establish this practice including optimal strategies for device removal, interrogation, sterilization, handling, implantation, and follow-up at charitable pacemaker facilities servicing low income patients throughout the world.