Retrospective analysis of 1650 permanent pacemaker implantations experience over two different consecutive time periods in a single cardiology clinic

OBJECTIVE: Indications for pacing, pacing modes, and demographics of patients who underwent pacemaker implantation between two different time periods were compared in this study. METHODS: Pacemaker registry of our cardiology department was used to evaluate these changes from 1986 to 2007 (First period: 1986-1996, second period: 1997-2007) retrospectively. RESULTS: Registry revealed 776 implantations in the first and 874 implantations in the second period. The percentages of first implantation were 89% and 70.1% respectively. Nearly 50% of the patients in both periods were female. Main indications for pacing were atrioventricular (AV) block, sick sinus syndrome (SSS) and slow ventricular rate during atrial fibrillation in both periods. Implantation of VVI-AAI pacemakers have decreased (77.8%/1.5% to 51%/0.3%, p=0.05) and implantation of DDD-VDD pacemakers have increased (19.3%/1.3% to 42.3%/6.3%, p=0.05) during the second period compared to the first period. Permanent pacemaker implantation for SSS has decreased significantly from 31.1% in the first period to 12.0% (p=0.05) in the second period. Implantation for AV block has increased significantly from 63.3% to 79.7% (p=0.05) in the second period. CONCLUSION: Our data revealed temporal changes in pacemaker implantation practice during last twenty years in the cardiology department of a teaching hospital. Implantation of VVI-AAI pacemakers have decreased significantly during the second period. Permanent pacemaker implantation for AV block has also decreased during the last period.