Technique for Human Marrow Grafting

A technique is described for marrow aspiration from living human donors andfor processing the marrow for intravenous infusion to marrow graft recipients.

Submitted on February 17, 1970 Revised on March 20, 1970 Accepted on March 26, 1970     

Pacemaker-Based Analysis of Atrioventricular Conduction and Atrial Tachyarrhythmias in Patients with Primary Sinus Node Dysfunction

Background: Most patients with symptomatic sinus node disease (SND) receive DDDR pacemakers (PM) in order to cover SND and atrioventricular (AV) block from the outset. But the concern about adverse effects of right ventricular pacing (RVP) is increasing. So far, data on the incidence of AV block in SND are based on clinical events. The study undertakes to assess and appraise AV block and atrial tachyarrhythmias (AT) from memory and electrograms of a dual-chamber PM set to an AAIR-DDDR switch mode (AAISafeR).
Methods: A dual-chamber PM incorporating the AAISafeR mode was implanted in 58 patients (70 ± 10 years, 28 males) with SND, but without AV block >I. AV block and AT episodes were retrieved from the PM memory and validated from electrograms. AV block episodes were classified potentially relevant while comprising AV block III or AV block I/II during exercise.
Results: The patients experienced a median of 90 (interquartile range 7–1,084) commutations. Possibly relevant AV block occurred in 32 patients (55%). Validation revealed high-quality PM-based categorization. The RVP prevalence was 0% (0–16%). The median AT prevalence was 0.03 (0–26) min/day. RVP was the only multivariate predictor of AT (P = 0.001).
Conclusions: Potentially relevant AV block occurs frequently in patients with SND. Nonetheless, the RVP prevalence is kept low through the AAISafeR mode. The protection of SND patients with demand-actuated ventricular pacing appears reasonable. The AT prevalence is low in SND patients treated by the AAISafeR mode. Even low RVP proportions appear to favor AT. Prospective evaluation is needed.     

Mortality, Morbidity, and Complications in 3,344 Patients with Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillators:

ICDs are the therapy of choice in patients with life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias. Mortality, morbidity, and complication rates including appropriate and inappropriate therapies are unknown when ICDs are used in routine medical care and not in well-defined patients included in multicenter trials. Therefore, the data of 3,344 patients (   61.1 ± 12.1  years   ; 80.2% men; CAD 64.6%, dilated cardiomyopathy 18.9%; NYHA Class I–III: 19.1%, 54.3%, 20.1%, respectively;   LVEF > 0.50   : 0.234, LVEF 0.30–0.50: 0.472,   LVEF < 0.30   : 0.293, respectively) implanted in 62 German hospitals between January 1998 and October 2000 were prospectively collected and analyzed as a part of the European Registry of Implantable Defibrillators (EURID Germany). The 1-year survival rate was 93.5%. Patients in NYHA Class III and a   LVEF < 0.30   had a lower survival rate than patients in NYHA Class I and a preserved LVEF (0.852 vs 0.975,   P = 0.0001   ). Including the 1-year follow-up, 49.5% of patients had an intervention by the ICD, 39.8% had appropriate ICD therapies, 16.2% had inappropriate therapies. Overall, 1,691 hospital readmissions were recorded. The main causes for hospital readmissions were ventricular arrhythmias (61.3%) and congestive heart failure symptoms (12.9%). Thus, demographic data and mortality of patients treated with an ICD in conditions of standard medical care seems to be comparable and based on, or congruent with, the large secondary preventions trials. When ICDs are used in standard medical care, the 1-year survival rate is high, especially in patients with NYHA Class I and preserved LVEF. However, nearly half of all patients suffer from ICD intervention. (PACE 2003; 26[Pt. I]:1511–1518)     

ICD Leads:

GRADAUS, R., et al .: ICD Leads: Design and Chronic Dysfunctions. The treatment of ventricular tachyarrhythmias has changed over the last 10 years. Implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs), once used only as a last resort therapy, have now become the treatment of choice. This change occurred before the first results of randomized studies on ICD therapy in patients with life-threatening ventricular tachyarrhythmias were published by the end of 1997. Technological advances of ICD therapy, in particular the development of transvenous leads, were to a large extent responsible for this change. Modern leads are characterized by their multilumen design that incorporates straight wires and coiled conductors into a single electrode body. Conductors and insulation are sheathed with additional insulation layers. The most frequently used insulating materials are silicone, polyurethane, and fluoropolymers. Lead failures are an important complication of ICD therapy. Fractured conductors, compression, creeping, or insulation defects from abrasion can cause such lead dysfunctions. Chronically implanted leads will inevitably have an increased risk of failure due to defects despite all technological advances. In the light of improving survival figures in patients with ventricular tachyarrhythmias and increasing numbers of ICD implantations, lead failures are becoming a clinical problem of ever increasing importance. Therefore, the question of which lead types necessitate extraction when a certain failure occurs and which leads can be left in place. Despite continuous improvements in lead extraction systems and growing experience in their use, the extraction of any pacemaker or ICD lead is associated with some risk of complications. (PACE 2003; 26[Pt. I]:649–657)     

The "Low Intensity Treadmill Exercise" Protocol for Appropriate Rate Adaptive Programming of Minute Ventilation Controlled Pacemakers

The objective of rate adaptive pacemakers that measure minute ventilation by tmnsthoracic impedance is to simulate the physiological relationship of the sensed signal to the sinus node response during exercise, thus achieving an appropriate matching of heart rate with patient effort. The purpose of this study was to determine the physiological relationship between heart rate and minute ventilation (HR/VE) during peak exercise testing in order to develop a database for appropriate rate adaptive slope programming of minute ventilation controlled pacemakers. Due to several clinical limitations of peak exercise testing, it was additionally determined whether the 35-watt “low intensity treadmill exercise” (LITE) protocol can be used as a substitute for peak exercise test using the “ramping incremental treadmill exercise” (RITE) protocol in order to assess the correct HR/VE slope below the anaerobic threshold. The stress tests were performed on a treadmill with the collection of breath-by-breath gas exchange. Linear regression analysis was used to determine the HR/VE slope below and above the anaerobic threshold and during the early, dynamic phase of low intensity exercise with the RITE and LITE protocols, respectively. The results of this testing in 41 healthy subjects demonstrated that the HR/VE relationship throughout treadmill exercise using the RITE protocol was not linear but curvilinear in nature, with a steeper HR/VE slope of 1.54 ± 0.51 below versus 1.15 ± 0.37 above the anaerobic threshold (P < 0.005). The HR/VE slope determined during the early, dynamic phase of the LITE protocol (1.58 ± 0.88) did not differ from the HR/VE slope from rest to anaerobic threshold obtained using the peak exercise RITE test (1.54 ± 0.51; P = 0.79), Rate adaptive pacing should simulate the curvilinear relationship between heart rate and minute ventilation from rest to peak exercise. The HR/VE slope determined during the early, dynamic phase of low intensity exercise represents the HR/VE slope derived from the RITE protocol below the anaerobic threshold. According to the peak exercise database, the slope above anaerobic threshold can easily be calculated as a percentage of the slope below the anaerobic threshold. The LITE protocol can, therefore, be effectively performed as a substitute for peak exercise stress tests to determine the correct pacemaker rate response factor in order to obtain a physiological heart rate to minute ventilation relationship for the appropriate matching of paced heart rate with patient effort.