Feature | EP Lab | December 07, 2021

When Do Children Need Pacemakers and Defibrillators?

Children's Hospital Los Angeles cardiologist Michael Silka co-chaired an international effort to develop the first pediatric-only guidelines for cardiac implantable devices

When Do Children Need Pacemakers and Defibrillators? Getty Images

Getty Images


Children’s Hospital Los Angeles cardiologist Michael Silka, M.D., helped to pioneer the development of indications for the use of pacemakers and implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) in young patients. From 1998 to 2018, Silka was the sole pediatric representative on national committees setting guidelines for use of these devices in both adults and children.

Recently, he led a Pediatric and Congenital Electrophysiology Society (PACES) effort — along with Maully J. Shah, MBBS, of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia — to develop the first pediatric-only guidelines for these electrophyiology (EP) devices. The resulting international consensus recommendations were published online in July 2021 in the journal Heart Rhythm.[1]

Explaining the New Pediatric Guidelines for Pacemakers and ICDs

Below, Silka explains the key recommendations, the ongoing challenge of implantable defibrillator use in young people, and how the field has grown in his two decades at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles:

"Previously, the pediatric device guidelines were always included as a very short sub-section in the adult guidelines. But children have different forms of heart disease, and the size of the devices can present unique problems for them.

Based on the increasing complexity of these devices, and of the patients themselves, PACES asked us to develop specific, freestanding guidelines for children. The final document has 129 unique guidelines. It’s somewhere between an article and a book!

Michael Silka, M.D.
Michael Silka, M.D.

I have to emphasize that this is the first attempt at these guidelines. Not everybody agrees with them. But it does represent a consensus of the more than 30 members of the writing group, and at least 80% of the members had to approve every single guideline. The guidelines were also reviewed and approved by major academic cardiac societies around the world, including in Europe, Asia and South America.

One of our key take-home messages is that a slow heart rate in and of itself is not really an indication for a pacemaker in a child. The real indication is when patients have symptoms — if they are dizzy or passing out due to a slow heart rate.

The other two main indications for pacemakers are children with heart block after surgery and infants who are born with heart block (a condition where the electrical signal that controls the heartbeat is blocked). Amazingly, the guidelines for those two indications have not really changed significantly since the first pacemaker recommendations were published in 1984.

We also developed guidance on when pacemakers should be considered in young people with neuromuscular diseases, such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Some of these patients will unexpectedly develop heart block. They may need to be monitored periodically to make sure that’s not happening, and some of them will need implantable pacemakers.

There remains a lot of uncertainty around the use of defibrillators in young patients. For patients who have had a prior cardiac arrest, we think it’s fairly clear that most need a defibrillator. But that is a small minority of patients.

The most difficult area we still contend with are patients who we think are at risk for sudden cardiac arrest. The question is: If and when do they need a defibrillator implanted? These are rare events, and we just don’t have enough data to really say with certainty when it should be used. We’re slowly accumulating the data, but we’re not there yet.

We need to be circumspect about putting in defibrillators. These devices are not a risk-free proposition. Sometimes they misinterpret the rhythm and will shock patients when they don’t need to be shocked. The other thing is that defibrillators have a 10-year life expectancy. If we put one in a child, how many times will we need to replace it? If a patient has a defibrillator, and it hasn’t been used after 10 years, do we need to put a new one in? These are unanswered questions. But they’re big questions.

We have to be honest with parents and families. That’s where the concept of shared decision-making comes in. But again, we have to be careful. You can ask patients leading questions to get to the answer you want. We have to be objective, and let patients and families know the implications of having a device or not having one. Let them be involved in the decision process.

Both have grown exponentially! In the field — it used to be there were maybe 40 or 50 pediatric electrophysiologists in the country. Now there are over 300 of us.

When I came to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, we were a team of only six cardiologists and I was the only electrophysiologist. Today, we have 27 cardiologists, including a team of four electrophysiologists, and a Cardiogenomics Program that provides genetic testing for children, including those with suspected inherited arrhythmia disorders. The Heart Institute has grown to be the largest pediatric heart program in the Western United States and is ranked No. 3 in the country by U.S. News & World Report. It’s been a tremendous period of growth, and it’s been very rewarding to be part of it."

Silka is one of only six people to receive the prestigious PACES Lifetime Achievement Award and the Heart Institute’s chief of cardiology at CHLA from 2000 to 2014.

Read the guidelines

For more information: www.chla.org/the-heart-institute

Reference:

1. Maully J. Shah, Michael J. Silka, John Triedman, et al. 2021 PACES Expert Consensus Statement on the Indications and Management of Cardiovascular Implantable Electronic Devices in Pediatric Patients. Heart Rhythm. Vol 18, Issue 11, P1888-1924, Nov 1, 2021. Published online first July 29, 2021. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hrthm.2021.07.038.
 


Related Content

News | Pediatric Cardiology

May 24, 2023 — A new advanced form of computed tomography (CT) imaging called photon-counting computed tomography (PCCT) ...

Home May 24, 2023
Home
News | Pediatric Cardiology

May 11, 2023 — In an effort to determine the cause behind a rare condition that causes heart failure in children ...

Home May 11, 2023
Home
News | Pediatric Cardiology

April 13, 2023 — Wireless or leadless pacemakers, commonly implanted in adults, may be a safe and effective short-term ...

Home April 13, 2023
Home
News | Pediatric Cardiology

March 31, 2023 — Scientists of the Department of Animal Biology of the University of Malaga have discovered the cellular ...

Home March 31, 2023
Home
News | Pediatric Cardiology

March 16, 2023 — Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego, the largest children’s hospital on the West Coast of the United ...

Home March 16, 2023
Home
News | Pediatric Cardiology

March 13, 2023 — An enlarged heart, often described as left ventricular hypertrophy, is a sign of early cardiac damage ...

Home March 13, 2023
Home
News | Pediatric Cardiology

March 9, 2023 — An enlarged heart, often described as left ventricular hypertrophy, is a sign of early cardiac damage ...

Home March 09, 2023
Home
News | Pediatric Cardiology

February 6, 2023 — Recent advances in newborn heart surgery have greatly reduced brain injuries in infants with ...

Home February 06, 2023
Home
News | Pediatric Cardiology

January 27, 2023 — Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center is excited to announce the opening of its Heart and ...

Home January 27, 2023
Home
News | Pediatric Cardiology

January 6, 2023 — Patients with congenital heart diseases often suffer from obstructions in the right ventricular ...

Home January 06, 2023
Home
Subscribe Now