VENTRICULAR PACING WITH EPIGASTRIC TRANSDIAPHRAGMATIC ELECTRODES - LONG-TERM FOLLOW-UP AND COMPARISON WITH OTHER IMPLANTATION METHODS

  • 1 January 1976
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 72  (2) , 226-231
Abstract
Electrode systems (187) were implanted in 158 consecutive patients: 30 systems implanted by thoracotomy, 98 transvenous and 52 epigastric transdiaphragmatic systems. The long-term results were compared. With electrodes placed by thoracotomy there was a high rate of complication (76%), prolonging the initial hospitalization (33%) and necessitating frequent rehospitalizations (56%). With transvenous electrodes the complication rate was 39% (16% during the first hospitalization, 28% necessitating rehospitalization). With epigastric transdiaphragmatic electrodes these figures were, respectively, 15, 12 and 6%. The most frequent complications with transvenous electrodes were displacement (15%), ulcerations and local infection; all were abolished when the epigastric approach was used. Threshold elevation was not more frequent with epigastric electrodes (sutured to the right ventricle) than with the other techniques. Of the epigastric electrodes, 4% caused complications severe enough to require another mode of pacing, contrasting with 18 and 26%, respectively, for the transvenous and transthoracic electrodes.

This publication has 2 references indexed in Scilit: