THE DESIGN AND TESTING OF A VAPOR-DEPOSITED CARBON-COATED TITANIUM PACEMAKER ELECTRODE

Program year: 1978/1979Digitized from print original stored in HDRThe occurrece of rising thresholds and exit block in artificial cardiac pacemaker therapy are thought to be due to fibrous tissue encapsulation of the implanted electrode. A vapor-deposited carbon-coated titanium electrode was made for use in pacemaker therapy. It was thought that due to the high degree of biocompatibility exhibited by pure carbonaceous materials following implantation of this electrode in the heart, threshold would remain constant. It was foudn that, in dogs with chronically induced heart block with implanted vapor-deposited carbon-wired titanium electrodes and constant rate stimulators, the threshold did indeed rise as a function of time following impantation