Performance of implanted biogalvanic pacemakers.

Seventeen unipolar cardiac pacemakers powered by hybrid biogalvanic cells were implanted in dogs. Long term clinical effects and electrical performance in vivo of the generators were investigated. The biogalvanic cells were designed to provide 50 years of generator operation. No systemic pathological changes which would be attributed to the generator or the biogalvanic cell were observed. Local reaction to implants was mild and not significantly different from the one observed in conventional pacemaker implantations to date. The electrical performance of the biogalvanic cells was very encouraging. Final steady-state cell voltage levels of .65V to .75V were reached in 100--150 days after implantation and remained constant in 3 units to date which represents over 36 months after implantation for each generator.