On July 18 th, 2005 Guidant Corporation began voluntarily recalling a number of their popular lines of pacemakers including the Pulsar. The hermetic seal around some of these devices has been shown to fail in some cases which allows moisture to destroy the sensitive electronics inside. The Food and Drug Administration launched in an investigation into Guidant’s actions in order to determine if such steps should be classified as a recall.

Pacemakers are small electrical devices about the size and thickness of two half dollars. When these devices work properly they monitor the heart and provide electrical stimulation to accelerate the heart when it beats too slowly. Should these devices fail it can be catastrophic for the patient. Common signs of pacemaker failure include

• Accelerated batter depletion
• Incorrect heart pacing
• Early replacement warning
• Incorrect reset warning

There have been at least 69 verified accounts of pacemaker failure in models manufactured between 1997 and 2000 which caused 20 pacing irregularities, 5 reports of fainting, and one unsubstantiated death. Any patient with a Pulsar pacemaker with model numbers 0470, 0870, 0970, 0972, 1172 or 1272 who feels dizzy, short of breath, or lightheaded should seek immediate medical attention. Other models to be careful about include:

Pulsar Max | Discovery | Discover II | Meridian | Virtus Plus II | Intelis II | Contak TR | Pulsar Max II

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