The infected pacemaker pocket.

Between January, 1963, and September, 1978, a total of 1,789 pacemakers were implanted at Henry Ford Hospital. Infection at the site of implantation developed in 19 instances for an incidence of 1.06 percent. The most common organism cultured was Staphylococcus epidermidis, and conservative treatment was successful with these patients. In all patients with organisms other than Staphylococcus epidermidis, reimplantation of a new unit in a new, clean site was required.