ALERT!

This site is not optimized for Internet Explorer 8 (or older).

Please upgrade to a newer version of Internet Explorer or use an alternate browser such as Chrome or Firefox.

Infections Associated With Resterilized Pacemakers and Defibrillators

Thursday, May 7, 2020

Submitted by

Emily Farkas

Source

Source Name: The New England Journal of Medicine

Source URL: https://www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1056/NEJMoa1813876?listPDF=true

Author(s)

Thomas F. Khairy, Marie-Andrée Lupien, Santiago Nava, Frank Valdez Baez, Fernando Solares Ovalle, Nery E. Linarez Ochoa, Gerardo Sosa Mendoza, Cesar A. Carrazco, Christine Villemaire, Richard Cartier, Denis Roy, Mario Talajic, Marc Dubuc, Bernard Thibault, Peter G. Guerra, Lena Rivard, Katia Dyrda, Blandine Mondésert, Rafik Tadros, Julia Cadrin-Tourigny, Laurent Macle, Paul Khairy

Access to pacemakers and defibrillators is problematic in places with limited resources. A multinational program was initiated in 1983 to provide tested and resterilized pacemakers and defibrillators to underserved nations; a prospective registry was established in 2003. The incidence of infection or device-related death at two years was 2.0%, an incidence that did not differ significantly from that seen among matched control patients with new devices in Canada.