[Modern pacemaker therapy].

INTRODUCTION

Pacemakers are devices that modern medicine and cardiology cannot be imagined without. The technique of implantation comes to surgical procedure where all principles of asepsis and antisepsis have to be respected. Although some complications do happen, the)y are rather rare.

RESULTS

After the implantation of the device, the patient is not handicapped (unless the heart was additionally damaged). On the contrary, the patient returns to his work and functions normally within his family in most of the cases. The first medical appointment is scheduled a month after the implantation and the following are three and six months after.

TYPES OF DEVICES: Today there are "new types of electrostimulation"--implantable cardioverter defibrillators and multisite electrostimulators. The former is implanted in patients at high risk of sudden cardiac death and the latter in patients with heart failure and left bundle branch block. Owing to these devices, the sudden cardiac death can be prevented successfully and the quality of a patient's life is improved.