Device therapy in children with and without congenital heart disease.

Device therapy in children has undergone several changes over the last few years due to developments in technology as well new approaches to preservation of ventricular function in paediatric pacing, novel data on pacing lead survival, inclusion of cardiac resynchronisation therapy and accumulating experience with the implantable cardioverter-defibrillator. Despite these developments device therapy in children is still associated with significant complications mainly due to patient size, growth and underlying structural heart disease. The amount of available data on therapy outcomes is much smaller than in their adult counterparts and prospective randomized studies are completely missing. Thus device therapy has to be cautiously tailored to individual patient needs having in mind the specific situation of expected decades of treatment. Avoidance of complications and potential harm precluding successful therapy continuation in the future should be one of the main principles.