This text provides practical clinical information to anyone interested in cardiac pacing and defibrillation.

Consisting of 13 chapters, this book is uniformly written by Dr. Hayes and his colleagues Drs. Lloyd and Friedman to provide sensible, matter-of-fact methods for understanding and caring for patients with permanent pacemakers and ICDs. It presents a logical progression from descriptions of device indications to selection of the most appropriate mode and hardware. From there, it proceeds to device implantation and subsequent management, with detailed sections on troubleshooting, complications, and follow-up. Not intended as an encyclopedic text, this book offers a large amount of information in an easily digestible form.

This book is meant to help the reader understand the technical capabilities of pacemakers and ICDs, and how to apply this knowledge to make everyday clinical encounters easier and more productive. From the first pacemaker implantation in 1958 and the first implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) implantation in 1980, the fields of cardiac pacing and defibrillation have enjoyed a rapid increase in the sophistication and effectiveness of implantable devices. Because these technologies are encountered more and more commonly in today?s clinical settings, it is important for physicians to learn practical approaches to pacemaker and ICD implantation.

Whether new to cardiac pacing and defibrillation or seeing large numbers of patients with implantable devices on a daily basis, cardiologists and electrophysiologists alike will appreciate the knowledge and experience shared by the authors of this book.