THE ROLE OF PACEMAKER CLINIC IN THE FOLLOW-UP OF PATIENTS WITH PERMANENT PACEMAKERS

The Pacemaker Clinic at Shahid Rajai Cardiovascular Research Center first started operating in August 1992. In its first year of operation, 294 permanent pacemaker patients were studied, allowing an appraisal to be carried out of the clinic's effectiveness in diagnosing and treating early complications. In the final analysis, pacemaker complications were observed in 68 (23%) patients, of whom 38 (56%') were treated by reprogramming the unit and without requiring any operation. The most common type of pacemaker complication observed was "undersensing" in 20 (29.5%) patients, followed by lack of myocardial capture by the pacemaker in 17 (25%) patients.