BACKGROUND One key element of natural pacemakers is the pacemaker current encoded by the hyperpolarization-activated nucleotide-gated channel (HCN) gene family. Although HCN gene transfer has been used to engineer biological pacemakers, this strategy may be confounded by unpredictable consequences of heteromultimerization with endogenous HCN family members and limited flexibility with regard to...

conclusions in this study, sick sinus syndrome and pacemaker mode followed by syncope were independently associated with increased mortality. results survival data were available for 1030 (80%) patients (median age = 71 years [5th to 95th percentile range: 26 - 86 years]) and follow-up was completed for 84.28% of them. according to the results, 56% of the patients had received dual-chamber syst...

Cardiac pacing as a clinical discipline is now over 20 years old. The end of the first decade saw the development of the demand pacemaker, the first "intelligent" implantable prosthetic device. Further progress took place mostly in the latter half of the second decade, with the introduction of lithium power sources with greater longevity, miniaturisation of electronic circuits, overall improvem...

pacemaker infection has multiple risk factors. its presentation is most often similar to infected endocarditis and the diagnosis is made through studying blood cultures. transesophageal echocardiography can confirm the diagnosis. the most common microorganisms are staphylococcus speciesis. as a matter of fact, complete pacemaker removal appears to be the only definite treatment. we presented a ...

a 29-year-old woman was referred to our hospital due to exacerbation in dyspnea on exertion and easy fatigability. a known case of congenitally corrected transposition of the great vessels and congenital complete heart block, she had already received a permanent single-chamber pacemaker. decision was made to implant a biventricular pacemaker for the treatment of the failing heart. excellent cor...

1031 An 83-year-old woman is referred for lead extraction as a result of pacemaker pocket infection. She has a history of atrial fibrillation and complete heart block after an AV node ablation. A left-sided pacemaker was placed in 2007. One month before admission, she developed urosepsis, followed by an infection of the pacemaker pocket. Blood cultures revealed methicillin-sensitive Staphylococ...

Introduction One of the most feared complications of a traditional pacemaker system is cardiac implantable electronic device infection. In such cases, a complete removal of the entire system is recommended. With the advent of the leadless transcatheter pacemaker system (TPS), the weak link— namely, the pacing leads that contribute to this problem— can be ultimately eliminated. At least 2 major ...