[Sixty-five years of pacemaker therapy].

Sixty-five years ago, the first pacemakers were implanted. Swedish developments paved the way for implantation of the first epicardial pacemaker with a rechargeable battery unit; however, there was a battery defect within 3 h. Further developments in the USA allowed for the first transvenous, endocardial lead to be implanted with an external pacemaker battery. Following these pioneering implantations, further improvements of the battery and electrical elements and also of lead technology (flexibility and fixation mechanism) allowed the implantation of pacemaker systems similar to those we still implant today.