TIMIR BAMAN: "We found that there's no real difference in device infection or device malfunction when you compare it to new pacemaker implantation."
Funeral directors normally remove pacemakers when preparing bodies for cremation. Pacemakers can explode if they are burned. So Doctor Baman asked funeral directors in Michigan to send the pacemakers to him.
He and other researchers at the University of Michigan Medical Center tested the used pacemakers. They cleaned and disinfected the ones in good working order. Then they sent them to doctors in the Philippines, Vietnam and Ghana.
The doctors successfully implanted the used pacemakers in twelve patients. The findings were recently presented at a conference in Washington of the American Heart Association.
Now, Timir Baman has asked the United States Food and Drug Administration for approval to do a larger test. He says -- speaking by Skype from his office in Ann Arbor, Michigan -- that he is hopeful the program will work.
TIMIR BAMAN: "If we show that this is safe, other academic centers in the United States as well as in Europe can then form their own pacemaker reutilization programs and really help out countries in Africa, really help out countries in Asia, who really have no other access to these type of devices."
And that's the VOA Special English Health Report, with reporting by Philip Graitcer. You can find and comment on our reports at voaspecialenglish.com or on Facebook or Twitter at VOA Learning English. I'm Steve Ember.
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2013-11-25
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