Indications for Permanent Pacemakers in Young Adults

Abstract

The sick sinus syndrome has become the most common indication for permanent pacemaker implantation. 1 In a recent review of 50 patients with the sick sinus syndrome treated with pacemaker insertion, the mean age of the group was 71 years. 2 There are occasional reports of the sick sinus syndrome in young adults. However, many of the reported cases involve postoperative congenital heart disease.3,4 Recently Kay and his group5reported a series of 18 cases of young adults who required pacemakers. Twelve had the sick sinus syndrome and served as the basis of their report. Electrophysiologic studies were performed in only 5 of their 12 cases, and the authors stressed that the corrected sinus node recovery time was normal in their 5 patients. We routinely perform electrophysiologic studies in all patients being considered for pacemaker implantations. We therefore reviewed our experience over 8 years with young adults who required permanent pacemaker insertions.