Pacemakers: Some of the Risks and Complications You Are Not Warned About (Open LEARNING ZONE‪)‬

Introduction There are approximately 18,000 new pacemakers implanted each year in the UK (Senthuran et al 2002). Most pacemakers are implanted to correct bradycardia (slow heart beat) due to sinus node disease or atrioventricular block. The recipients of the pacemakers are generally elderly people with an average age of 75 years for a first implant (Allen 2006). Booklets from the British Heart Foundation (2005) give the new pacemaker recipient very positive advice about pacemakers in general, but they appear to gloss over, or ignore, some of the risks and complications associated with having a pacemaker.