PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Rosengarten, M. D.
AU  - Portnoy, D.
AU  - Chiu, R. C.
AU  - Paterson, A. K.
TI  - Reuse of permanent cardiac pacemakers
DP  - 1985 Aug 15
TA  - Canadian Medical Association Journal
PG  - 279--283
VI  - 133
IP  - 4
4099  - http://www.cmaj.ca/content/133/4/279.short
4100  - http://www.cmaj.ca/content/133/4/279.full
SO  - CMAJ1985 Aug 15; 133
AB  - Cardiac pacemakers are part of a growing group of expensive implantable electronic devices; hospitals in which 100 pacemakers are implanted per year must budget over $300 000 for these devices. This cost represents a considerable burden to health care resources. Since the "life-span" of modern pacemakers often exceeds that of the patients who receive them, the recovery and reuse of these devices seems logical. Pacemakers can be resterilized and tested with current hospital procedures. Reuse should be acceptable under Canadian law, but the manner in which the pacemakers are recovered and the patients selected should follow careful guidelines. Every patient should provide written informed consent before receiving a recovered pacemaker. Properly executed, reuse of pacemakers should provide a high level of health care while maintaining or reducing the cost of these devices.