Risks and benefits of cardiac pacing in children.

Forty-nine patients aged 2 days to 14 years (30% below 1 year of age) required implantation of a permanent pacemaker system. Surgically induced bradyarrhythmia was the main indication for treatment (84% of patients). In the follow-up period (ranging from 2 to 140 months) 16 reoperations became necessary for complications in 12 children. Twelve of these were caused by problems related to function of the epicardial electrode (threshold rise 9, lead fracture 2, dysfunction 1). Four patients died, but pacemaker function had remained intact in all. Our experience confirms that artificial cardiac stimulation has become a reliable instrument for improving quality of life and life expectancy of children endangered by postsurgical, congenital and acquired rhythm disorders.