Longevity and potential reusability of cardiac implantable electronic devices explanted in funeral homes.

Background: While in high-income countries (HICs) the implantation of cardiac implantable electronic devices (CIEDs) is common, in certain low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) access to devices is limited and insufficient to meet the demand. Between 17% and 30% of CIEDs explanted post-mortem in HICs appears to have enough battery life to be reused but devices are not routinely programmed to no pacing output and continue to consume battery after the patient's death. Therefore, we conducted a prospective analysis of CIEDs collected from funeral homes, controlling variables such as the date of explantation and limiting the time until the date of interrogation to 6 months. The objective was to perform an accurate analysis of the reusability of post-mortem explanted CIEDs to assess the possibility of implementing a local effort of CIED reuse in LMICs.

Methods: A descriptive study of post-mortem explanted CIEDs in funeral homes was conducted. Participating centers stored all devices explanted between December 2020 to December 2021 for collection and interrogation.

Results: The participating centers attended 6472 deaths (28.05% of total deaths registered in the region). Two hundred fourteen CIEDs were collected (90.2% pacemakers and 9.8% defibrillators). Of the 214 collected devices, 100 CIEDs (46.7%) had >4 years or >75% battery remaining, preserved external integrity, and no evidence of malfunction and therefore were considered reusable.

Conclusions: Based on stablished criteria 46.7% of recovered devices were considered reusable. Therefore, recovery from funeral homes of HICs comprises a potential source of reusable devices for LMICs.