The Australian and New Zealand Cardiac Implantable Electronic Device Survey, Calendar Year 2021: 50-Year Anniversary.

Background: A cardiac implantable electronic device (CIED) survey was undertaken in Australia and New Zealand for calendar year 2021. The survey involved pacemakers (PMs) and implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs). The survey was conducted on the 50 anniversary of the first survey for both Australia and New Zealand in 1972; that initial survey being conducted by two of the current authors.

The Cardiac Pacemaker Clinic: Memories From a Bygone Era.

In 1963, soon after the first ventricular pacemakers were implanted at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, attempts were made to identify impending pacing failure, thus preventing sudden death in these very vulnerable patients. By 1970, patient numbers had increased, a formal regular pacemaker clinic was established, and guidelines and protocols developed. The clinic was staffed by a physician, a biomedical engineer and cardiac technicians.

The Australian history of cardiac pacing: memories from a bygone era.

Although Dr Albert Hyman in New York is believed to have built the first cardiac pacemaker in 1932, he acknowledges Dr Mark Lidwell in Sydney, Australia as having not only built a pacemaker, but also successfully used it to resuscitate a newborn infant in or before 1929. Fully implantable pacemakers, however, were not possible until 1958, following the development of the silicon transistor. Within three years of that first implant, a pulse generator attached to epicardial leads was implanted at the Royal Melbourne Hospital.

Cardiac pacing: memories of a bygone era.

The first cardiac pacemaker implants occurred in the late 1950s and involved insertion of epicardial or epimyocardial leads and abdominal pulse generators. By the mid 1960s, cardiologists were making attempts to insert transvenous leads into the right ventricle. These early unipolar leads had large, polished, high polarization electrodes, no fixation device, and no lumen in which to place a stylet for lead positioning.

Effect of pravastatin compared with placebo initiated within 24 hours of onset of acute myocardial infarction or unstable angina: the Pravastatin in Acute Coronary Treatment (PACT) trial.

Background: The efficacy of statin drugs after an acute coronary event is now well established, but the evidence for statin use in the early treatment of acute coronary events remains unclear.

Methods: We tested the effects of administering pravastatin within 24 hours of the onset of symptoms in patients with unstable angina, non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction, or ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction. Patient recruitment of 10,000 with 1200 end points was planned, but the trial was stopped early.