Battery Longevity

In preparation of an released study....I just wanted to let you all know that a meta-analysis is being published describing battery longevity among 4 major manufacturers (Biotronik, Medtronki, St Jude, and Boston Scientific.)

The most important thing to know before anyone gets mad that their doctor didn't put in the longest battery company, is that many factors go into which company device is implanted. While battery life is important, it is not typically at the top of the list with most implanters. If I am implanting a very young person for example, then battery life is very important to reduce the number of operations during their lifetime. However, if the patient is worried about the size of a device, I may chose a small profile pacemaker instead.

Hospital contracting plays a very big role as well.....very big. If the hospital loses money putting in a device from a specific company, then....you are unlikely to get that device.

SOOO, I am not sure when/if it will be published, but the abstract was submitted and I was fortunate enough to see the data showing that Medtronic devices seem to last the longest (which is not a surprise based on previously published studies.)

DISCLAIMER: In general, each clinical situation is different and battery life will ultimately vary from person to person based on the settings.

3 Comments

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by jvaltos - 2010-02-14 03:02:51

Soon to be presented study at a national conference.

battery life

by golden_snitch - 2010-02-15 03:02:52

Hey,

there is a similar study published about ICD longevity, and Medtronic is leading, too. However, I have a Sorin Group pacer, a company that is not included in both studies. Had my pacer put in in Oct. 2008, and last week the battery status was: 9 years and 10 months left. That's not too bad, either.

Best wishes
Inga

battery life

by dwelch - 2010-02-15 11:02:48


with my first pacer at 19 years old I used to worry about battery life, why cant they make one that lasts for ever? Now I am an engineer and understand a few things, just look at the pie charts on the pmclub faqs explains most of it (read between the lines).

More importantly though I like having a newer, better, smaller, pacer every 7-10 years. Think about it this way, what if the next TV you buy is the last TV you will ever own, no replacements, or your computer, the last computer you will ever buy, no technology upgrades, no software upgrades, as-is the day you buy it that is it, your cell phone, the last cell phone you will ever buy, the last car you will ever buy. And this means that over time there are no more over the air tv signals for that old tv, wifi goes away, wired ethernet goes away unlinking that old computer of yours from the world, pacemaker interrogation boxes for your model die off and become few and far between. The software and electrical engineers that designed and were familiar with your pacer are no longer with the company and that tribal knowledge about how to interrogate your pacer is no longer properly included in the next unit. I find a pacer replacement less painful that dealing with a car salesman/dealership.

My first pacer was huge compared to my current one, and if I was getting replacements every 4 or 5 years instead of 8 or 10 then I would opt for the larger model. but there is no market for a 20 year or 30 year pacer, nobody can afford to maintain interrogation equipment for all the models if they lasted that long. Which is part of your other question, if your doctor/hospital has a relationship with ACME pacer company, if you stay with that doc/hospital you do not want to be the only patient with the XYZ branded pacer. Your quality of health care will go down and your price for health care will go up. It is kind of like vehicles you want the world to have more than a monopoly but less than a handful, otherwise costs go up for repairs, tools, replacement parts, etc. If they introduced a 30 year pacemaker today, I would beg my doc for the 7-10 year model for the next 3 or 4 I plan to need for the rest of my life. In about 90-120 years I might consider a 30 year pacer if they came out today.

Sorry to be negative just wanted to shine a different light, fortunately I am in that 7-10 year category and think 8-10 is the optimal for pacers, the pacers and/or conditions that put you in the 4-5 year category, I think those should be improved to 8-10 unless there is a specific reason (like having an ICD) that prohibits it.

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