[Sick sinus syndrome and permanent cardiac pacing].

The authors submit a retrospective analysis of 140 patients with an affection of the sinoatrial node who had a permanent cardiac pacemaker. The analysis comprises an 18-month period; the patients were from the eastern Slovakian region. The authors emphasize different affections of the sinoatrial node and discuss various ways of permanent cardiac pacing and other types of non-pharmacological treatment (e.g. electric ablation). Diseases of the sinoatrial node account for as much as 40% of implantations of a permanent pacemaker on account of bradyarrhythmia. At the clinic this implies a quantitative increase of cardiac pacing on account of diseases of the sinoatrial node by 18%, as compared with a previous period (e.g. the average for 1978-1987). A qualitative change is the introduction of physiological permanent cardiac pacing.