ABSTRACT
This study was simply done to show the outcome of temporary pacing, which has been done in this part of the world and its comparison with other authors work. Out of 1000 admissions to the Coronary Care Unit, General Hospital, Mosul, 40 patients were considered for temporary pacing. Ten died before pacing, and 30 patients were paced [Table I]. The benefit was obvious in idiopathic complete heart block. The mortality was 15 percent in complete heart block following inferior myocardial infarction. The beneft was doubtful in complete heart block following anterior myocadial infarction where the mortality rate was 57 percent. Early efforts to control heart beats electrically by direct cardiac stimulation date back to the 19th century, when Aldini tried to stimulate the arrested heart of decapitated criminals by means of galvanic stimulation[1]. An important milestone in this field was achieved by Hymen, who observed that the intracardiac injection of diverse substances was capable of restoring heart beats in the arrested heart, which led him to conclude that the mechanical stimulation provided by the needle was probably the cause of heart cell depolarization[2]. He called the apparatus Artificial Pacemaker. Other workers reported effective pacing of the sino-atrial node of the dog by means of intravenous bipolar electrodes[3]. An internally powered pacemaker unit charged from outside the body was achieved in the late 1950's[4]. Then a complete implanted system powered by a zinc mercury cell battery was introduced[5].. Later on the present widely-used method of endocardial pacing was introduced[6]