TASK FORCE WILL STUDY HEART DEVICE SURVEILLANCE

A new task force will recommend ways to improve surveillance of pacemakers and implantable defibrillators after thousands of recalls took place last summer.

The Heart Rhythm Society (HRS) recently named a 14-member group of electrophysiologists to address device surveillance problems and to recommend ways to improve failure notification approaches. The group was formed in response to Guidant's decision to recall more than 300,000 pacemakers and implantable cardioverter defibrillators last summer after discovering that a small number of them were likely to fail.

The task force hopes to make recommendations available for public comment by May 1 of 2006. And the panel will be developing more comprehensive clinician guidelines over the next nine to 12 months.

"Developing these standards will go a long way toward improving patient confidence in these devices and making sure this lifesaving technology will be used by the people who need them," said Anne Curtis, president of HRS.