[Long-term cardiac pacing: survival above 10 years (author's transl)]

The authors reports data of pacemaker patients surviving above 10 years. They have considered 241 patients undergone pace-maker first insertion from January 1961 to June 1967 (168 treated with epicardial and 73 with transvenous electrodes). At the last control on July 1977, 52 (27 males and 25 females) were surviving, equivalent to 21% of all patients treated in that period. The age of these patients ranged from 5 to 83 (mean 60 years) at first implantation. At present 51 patients are treated with transvenous systems, only 1 patient is stimulated with epicardial pace-maker. 382 pace-makers were used in these 52 patients: the average life of every pacer was 20 months. Complications relative to epicardial and endocardial pacing are reported: with the transvenous system the percent of complications was lower (15,6% to 50,4%). Finally present clinical states of the 52 patients are reported, basing on the reccomendations of Criteria Committee of the New Heart Association.