Introduction: We aimed to investigate long-term results of the children with pacemakers.
Methods: The records of 20 children who underwent pacemaker implantation between December 1984 and September 2012 were investigated.
Results: Baseline and procedural characteristics were summarized in Table 1. Epicardial procedures were performed by cardiac surgeons and transvenous implantations were performed by cardiac electrophysiologists. In the transvenous group, 3 of 6 attempts of lead implantation via cephalic vein cut-down was successful. There were no procedure-related complications. Seven patients in the epicardial group eventually underwent transvenous system implantation at 89±62 months’ (range, 15-171) of follow-up. The number of invasive procedures including the first implantation, lead repositioning, lead and/or generator replacement or lead extraction were 3.2±1.9 times for the epicardial and 2.7±1.8 times for the transvenous group. The follow-up problems were summarized in Table 2. Seven of these patients were symptomatic (syncope in 1, heart failure symptoms in 2, palpitation in 2, and reddening of pacemaker pocket in 2 patients.) The problems were solved by reprogramming in 5, implanting new transvenous leads in 8, lead extraction and new system implantation in 2 patients.
Conclusions: The children with pacemakers have a high incidence of problems in long-term, however, there are plenty of methods for solution.