[Antibiotic prophylaxis in the implantation of permanent pacemakers].

Prophylactic antibiotics are prescribed frequently at pacemaker placements despite a paucity of data indicating effectiveness. Battery pack replacement procedures usually are not followed by infections and prophylactic antibiotics in this setting are controversial. Pacing wire and battery pack placement have higher infection rate (about 5%), thus antibiotics may be useful in the prevention of serious infections. In this study three different schemes of antibiotics prophylaxis (local prophylaxis, Short term prophylaxis, conventional postoperative prophylaxis) were compared in 72 patients receiving permanent transvenous cardiac pacemakers. No significant differences were found among these three groups also if S.T.P. showed a greatest simplicity.