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Kim A. Eagle, MD

JAMA. 2001;286:843-844.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

Technological developments in device therapy for both bradyarrhythmias and tachyarrhythmias have benefited hundreds of thousands of patients over the past several decades. By the end of 2000, more than 900 000 persons in the United States had a pacemaker or implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) generator.¹ The benefits of modern-day pacing and defibrillator therapy on both quality and quantity of life are well documented.^2-4 Moreover, the recent receipt of an ICD by Vice President Richard Cheney has resulted in increased public awareness about the use and capabilities of these devices.

In this issue of THE JOURNAL, Maisel and colleagues¹ report the frequency with which pacemakers and ICDs have been subject to safety alerts and recalls during the past decade. The authors report that from 1990 through 2000, 52 advisories were issued, involving more than 400 000 pacemakers and more than 100 000 ICDs. The frequency of these alerts and the numbers . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Author Affiliations: Division of Cardiovascular Disease, University of Michigan Medical Center, Ann Arbor.

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Safety of Implantable Cardiac Devices
Marshall S. Stanton, William H. Maisel, William G. Stevenson, Laurence M. Epstein, and Kim A. Eagle
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