Clinical Observation on the Life Expectancy of Artificial Pacemakers Implanted into Humans

Abstract

As the life span has been extended, heart disease has also become increasingly common, making it the second leading cause of death in Korea. Advances in treatment include the use of cardiac devices, especially artificial pacemakers, which are mainly used for arrhythmias. Recently, the use of cardiac devices has been increasing, but there are insufficient data on their use in Korea. The life expectancy of cardiac devices is often not consistent with laboratory results and clinical outcomes. There has been little research on the actual life expectancy of cardiac devices implanted into the human body. Patients who had implanted cardiac device for treatment of the cardiac arrhythmia at Keimyung University Dongsan Medical Center until August 2014 were collected the duration until replacement. There were a total of 402 patients. 367 (91/3%) had only replacement of generator, and 32 (8%) patients were replaced with lead and generator. In case of the pacemaker, the duration of first and second replacement were 7.6 years (2778 days), 6.2 years (2256 days). There was the significant statistically reduction in second replacement. In case of defibrillator, the first and second replacement was 5.8 years (2124 days), 5.3 years (1940 days). The longer the implanted period, the shorter the replacement period.