Transthoracic and transvenous pacemakers. A comparative clinical experience with 131 implantable units.

Abstract

This is a review of the clinical experience over a four-year period in treating rI9 patients with transvenous and transthoracic pacemakers. Comparison is made of the mortality and complications associated with the two systems, and advantages of both systems are discussed. The one-year survival rate was 78 per cent and 63 per cent for the transthoracic and transvenous systems, respectively. The main complications were related to generator failure, catheter displacement, and electrode fracture. The results indicate that the current pacemaker systems improve the predicted mortality rate for complete heart block, but further improvement in the electronic systems and electrodes is required to correct thefrequent complications associated with this mode of therapy.