Reusing Pacemakers Could Improve Heart Care in Developing World
01 June 2010
This is the VOA Special English Health Report.
A pacemaker is a small device that doctors place in people with an abnormal heartbeat. If a heart beats too slowly, the pacemaker will use electrical signals to help set a normal rate. Some devices include a defibrillator, which gives a shock if the heart beats too fast.
Pacemakers may be permanent or temporary. But one thing is sure. Developing countries need more of them as more people get heart disease.
A big problem, however, is the cost. Buying and implanting a pacemaker costs from five thousand to fifteen thousand dollars.
But doctors at the University of Michigan think they know a way to lower that cost. The idea is to reuse pacemakers.
Heart doctor Timir Baman estimates that more than one million people worldwide need pacemakers each year. He says reusing a pacemaker is an ethical way to provide health care to those who have no other way to get one.
TIMIR BAMAN: "A country such as Bangladesh or India, they average less than eight new implants per million. In the United States, we average seven hundred fifty-two new implants per million."
He got the idea a few years ago. One of his patients asked if someone might be given her pacemaker for reuse after she died.
But are used pacemakers safe? Doctor Baman studied medical reports about the safety of pacemakers that were being reused in small studies.
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