FDA: Defibrillator defects on the riseWASHINGTON (AP) -- Malfunctions in implanted heart defibrillators were on the rise even before this summer's massive recall by Guidant Corp., government and Harvard University scientists reported Friday.
About 20 of every 1,000 defibrillators implanted are malfunctioning, and defects led to 31 deaths between 1990 and 2002, concluded research sponsored by the Food and Drug Administration.
That can be a tough balancing act: Failures are rare, and ways to predict whose implant will fail don't always exist, while surgery to remove and replace the implant itself is risky.
But it's of growing public concern, because since January, the nation's three leading defibrillator makers -- Guidant,
Medtronic and St. Jude Medical -- have issued recalls or safety warnings affecting more than 200,000 defibrillators.
Pacemakers use mild electrical current to speed a slow heartbeat. Defibrillators use a bigger jolt of electricity on hearts that go into life-threatening irregular beats. Pacemakers have been around for decades, but only since the mid-1990s have ICDs become fairly common -- and these devices are becoming increasingly complex, as manufacturers make them smaller and add pacemaker features. -
CNN.com--------
Great, just great. Guess who is walking around with the latest model in his chest, the one with all the bells and whistles. I think it even has an mp3 player in it. (The company I put in bold print is the company that made mine.)
