Does a transistor pacemaker correct complete heart block and maintain clinical condition in patients with complete atrioventricular dissociation?
This early case series demonstrates the feasibility and clinical efficacy of using a transistor pacemaker to treat complete atrioventricular dissociation.
The pacemaker here described has been used in 66 patients to correct complete heart block. In most cases the block followed surgical procedures, but it also occurred in some nonsurgical patients. The pacemaker consists of three parts: a 9.4-volt mercury cell battery as the source of power; a transistorized oscillator transformer to generate the pulses needed to stimulate the heart; and a unipolar or bipolar electrode in the form of a wire anchored by stitches to the myocardium. The myocardium of the right ventricle has usually been chosen as the most convenient site. Nonsurgical patients incapacitated by complete heart block with low cardiac output have had their conditions maintained on continuous stimulation for up to 15 months by means of this equipment.
C. Walton Lillehei (Sat,) studied this question.