Implant techniques

Abstract

The implantation of devices for the management of both bradyarrhythmias and tachyarrhythmias has come together from divergent clinical pathways. There has, however, been an interesting parallel in the development of their methods of implantation (1). This has largely been driven by the dramatic advances in technology. In 1958, Seymour Furman and J.B. Schwedel passed the first transvenous endocardial electrode for prolonged cardiac pacing (2). Almost simultaneously, Rune Elmqvist and A.K.E. Senning developed a totally implantable pacemaker system with an epigastric pocket and the electrodes connected subcutaneously to the heart (3). These two events simultaneously introduced both the transvenous and epicardial approaches to cardiac pacing. © 2008 Springer-Verlag US.