Early failures of permanently implanted transvenous pacemaker systems: spontaneous recovery of sensing function in...

An analysis of 12 early pacemaker failures in a series of 128 transvenous implants is reported. Spontaneous recovery, maintained during long-term follow-up of 3 patients with isolated transient sensing failure, suggested the possibility of a transient loss of sensing voltage amplitude, or slew rate (dv/dt), or both. Conservative management is frequently indicated in these cases. In 62 patients in whom a "tined" lead was used, there were no early pacemaker failures.